Indian Cinema And Italian Neorealism

After World War II, the Mussollini’s fascist government fell in Italy. With liberation of Italy, a distinctive yet an influencial short era of neorealism took place in Italy between mid 1940s and late 1950s. It made a transition between classical cinema in USA and Europe to modernist cinema, and the influence of Italian neorealism can be seen in Indian Cinema, French New Wave. Neorealism was born as a reaction against the violence of fascist regime.

The realism of Italian neorealism showed itself in a particular style. Italian neorealist films mostly deals with the difficult economical and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian frame of mind and the conditions of everyday life, post war poverty, unemployment, lower working class and desperation. The focus of neorealist films were often critical view of Italian society and social problems. In short, neorealism in film was the Italy’s visual truth.

The directors are generally filmed with nonprofessional actors. They shot their films on location, and even from time to time they used real-time scenes. Characters often exist within simple social order where survival is the main struggle or subject.

Neorealist films often have children in major roles, however the character’s place in films mostly are observatory not participatory. The setting is in rural areas or working-class neighborhoods, the stories are about everyday people, and often include children.

Child figures were used