Bicycle Thieves is often considered the quintessential Italian neorealist movie. But this is not merely because of De Sica's choice of non-professional actors, on-location shooting, and natural lighting; all trademarks of the neorealist movement. The simplicity of the story lends itself to realism, a poor man, Antonio, who has his livelihood stolen from him and his search to regain it. In a postwar Italy battling poverty and unemployment which had so much taken from it, the country was also struggling to find itself again and get back up on its feet. Both the protagonist and his country find themselves in analogous situations. Furthermore, the manner in which De Sica gives screen time to the unimportant things that happen in real life give the movie a sense of time, or the passage of time, such as Antonio and his son, Bruno, waiting out a rainstorm so they restart the search for his bicycle. However, upon further examination, much of the film's elements are not very realistic at all and ironically enough, possesses fable-like characteristics. The film still retains its veneer of plausibility because the simplicity of its overall premise and its neorealist trappings. Beginning with the film's crucial plot point: Antonio finding his bicycle after it's stolen from him. Yet he never asks the seemingly obvious questions. He never asks, "Where or how can I get another bike?". Throughout the film, we see a Rome that is chock-full of bicycles. In fact, there seems to be more of them than actual people, yet he is fixated on stopping everything and starting a city-wide search to get back his bike as if it were the only one in city. He could have tried to purchase another cheap bike, or ask a friend or family member to borrow one until he gets his back. This, of course, is not a mistake on the part of the director, rather, De Sica, has added a sense of moral fable to the film. It is the idea of the bicycle as a "magical object" or "talisman". The brand of his bike is Fides (faith), so Antonio is not merely looking for his bike, but also for his faith, whether that is in humanity, in himself, in society, or in Italy as a country. When he succumbs at the end and steals another man's bike, he has finally lost his faith. Furthermore, there is an uncanny, almost nightmarish hopelessness and ineffectiveness that nearly pervades the entire film. In the very first scene, while there are loads of people waiting for their names to be called for a job, Antonio is sitting down at least 50 feet away from the crowd, completely unaware that his name has been called. Later in the film, in the pawn shop, there are seemingly endless rows of sheets pawned by other people, "obviously the hopes of countless other Italians have already been dashed" (Bondanella). At the police station, there is an "equally infinite number of police" reports and "almost endless tracking shots of countless bicycle parts" when Antonio and his friends are searching for a single bike. Regarding the two thefts seen in the film: Antonio having his bike stolen and Antonio stealing a bike, at the beginning and end of the film, respectively. When Antonio's bike is stolen, he screams, "Al ladro! (thief, thief!)", there is nobody that helps even though he is on a busy street. However, when Antonio finally gives up hope or faith (Fides) and steals a bike, he is almost immediately called out by the bike's owner and within seconds, there is a swarm of people chasing him down. I tend to agree with Peter Bondanella's optimistic viewpoint that a major aspect of the story is that despite the fact that all of fate and determinism's forces have decided to gang up on Antonio, his family, his son are still there for him. Bruno offers Antonio "his hand before they both disappear into the alien crowd at the film's ending". Yet Bondanella also posits a more pessimistic outlook in which Bruno's affections change nothing, "life remains tragic and absurd in spite of it". However, while it is technically true that the absurdity remains, it does not change the indisputable fact that Bruno's hand is there despite of that. - Jesse Sifuentes
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All'uscita del film c'erano molti detrattori che sostenevano che "La Strada" avesse tradito il movimento neorealistico. Però oltre ai componenti ovvi come l'impiego di attori non-professionali e luoghi autentici, il neorealismo soprattutto doveva dimostrare ed esprimere i dolori della gente che subì gli effetti della seconda guerra mondiale. Anche se La Strada non ha "combattuto" contro quell'aspetto in particolare, si tratta però dell'avversità, delle lotte contro di noi stessi, la povertà , il rimorso e la compassione. Fellini avvolse tutto quello in un racconto fiabesco e forse era per questo che ci sono stati detrattori che lo criticavano. Secondo me, è questo miscuglio di elementi di favola con le verità dure dei personaggi che ha reso "La Strada" un classico, un capolavoro senza tempo. - Jesse Sifuentes - Please Note This Paper is Partially in Italian and Primarily in English - Luchino Visconti’s La Terra Trema is thought of by many as the purest example of Italian neorealism; Personally, I have no doubt that it deserves this recognition. On a recent trip to my local Museum (Fine Arts) to see La Terra Trema during the “Days of Glory” Italian Film Festival, I noticed many people in the movie theater after the one and a half hour mark of the film budging around in their seats, as if the vivid harshness of the film had a physical effect on them as each agonizingly brutal scene passed. One can easily make a clear comparison of not only Giovanni Verga’s I Malavoglia which La Terra Trema was based on, but also Verga’s short stories: Rosso Malpelo and Nedda, or the harsh but poetic account of Acitrezza, Sicilia in Fantasticheria. Visconti undoubtedly created a masterpiece in La Terra Trema by creating the essence and feel of Giovanni Verga’s Verismo short stories and novels. La Terra Trema (based on Giovanni Verga’s I Malavoglia) tells the story of poor Sicilian fishermen in AciTrezza who are continually exploited by the fish wholesalers. ‘Ntoni, of the Valastro family, decides that enough is enough and plans to overthrow the malicious wholesalers by mortgaging his house to afford a boat of their own, to be their own bosses. Their initial success is soon destroyed by an unlucky storm that destroys their boat. Without having the money to pay off their debts, they are forced into extreme poverty and eventually evicted out of their house by the government. Ultimately, ‘Ntoni is forced to swallow his pride and once again accept a position from the wholesalers on one of their boats. Watching La Terra Trema is literally like watching a Giovanni Verga story come to life, its very essence is portrayed perfectly on the big screen, in black and white. In Verga’s Fantasticheria (1880), the French lady exclaims “Non capisco come si possa vivere qui tutta la vita”. She symbolizes the outsider who’s looking in, and this is brought home by her being not only not Sicilian, but not even from Italy. The people of AciTrezza are compared to a “esercito di formiche” with them writhing in pain, and “Di tanto in tanto il tifo, il colèra, la malannata, la burrasca, vengono a dare una buona spazzata in quel brulicame, che davvero si crederebbe non dovesse desiderar di meglio che esser spazzato, e scomparire; eppure ripullula sempre nello stesso luogo; non so dirvi come, né perché” (Fantasticheria, Giovanni Verga, 1880). Watching the small impoverished town of Acitrezza in La Terra Trema, one can understand that statement. Like Pier Paolo Pasolini often made pimps, prostitutes, accattoni and malviventi the “stars” in his movies and books (Ragazzi di Vita, Accattone, Mamma Roma), Giovanni Verga also decided to put his focus on a group of people who certainly weren’t portrayed in literature often, the real people of Sicily. Luchino Visconti kept true to the spirit of Verga’s stories by using “Le case, le strade, le barche, il mare, sono quelli di Acitrezza. Tutti gli attori del film sono stati scelti tra gli abitanti del paese: pescatori, ragazze, braccianti, muratori, grossisti di pesce” (La Terra Trema, Luchino Visconti, 1948). In Fantasticheria, Verga gives a vivid account of the poor people of Acitrezza, but often emphasized the beauty in their simplicity; a hardened tough sailor who was intimidated by the French lady’s fancy shoe-work. In La Terra Trema, Visconti contrasts the harsh images and themes with beautiful poetic cinematography, stunning compositions, long static shots and vivid close-ups. The director and author both saw the beauty in something seemingly so harsh and unattractive because “La vita è ricca, come vedete, nella sua inesauribile varietà” (Fantasticheria) Watching the film, one gets the sense that these are the actual people that Giovanni Verga would have written about had he lived in 1940’s Acitrezza. Visconti decided to let them talk in their “dialetto semibarbaro” (Fantasticheria, Giovanni Verga, 1880) because “Essi non conoscono lingua diversa dal siciliano per esprimere ribellioni, dolori, speranze. La lingua italiana non è in Sicilia la lingua dei poveri”, similar to how Giovanni Verga brilliantly used Sicilian syntax and sayings but within standard Italian. Seeing the characters in La Terra Trema speak in Sicilian “Stretto” brings an extra level of realism as seen in Verga’s stories, that would have been greatly diminished had it been filmed in standard Italian. It’s clear that Visconti and Verga realized how important language and vernacular really was when trying to convey Sicilian life. None of the hardships that are portrayed in Verga’s stories are spared in La Terra Trema. Nedda (Bozzetto Siciliano), one of Giovanni Verga’s first short stories marks his stylistic move from popular writing to the gritty Verismo style. The main character Nedda is a poor olive picker who undergoes a series of tragic misfortunes and eventually sees the death of her just born child literally die in her arms. The similarities between the continual hardships of Nedda and ‘Ntoni (and his family) in La Terra Trema are extremely clear. They are both tragic characters bound to their destiny and lot in life. Giovanni Verga writes about Nedda: “Era una ragazza bruna, vestita miseramente, dall'attitudine timida e ruvida che danno la miseria e l'isolamento. Forse sarebbe stata bella, se gli stenti e le fatiche non avessero alterato profondamente non solo le sembianze gentili della donna”. This was another similarity that Luchino Visconti might not have consciously chosen, but ‘Ntoni played by Antonio Arcidiacono is a good looking man that could have easily been a lead character in other movies, but was clearly physically worn down by all the hardships and physical labor. Luchino Visconti says in the narration of La Terra Trema, that the work of the exploited poor Sicilian fishermen is a “schiavitù senza scampo”.Visconti is not only referencing the physical work that the fishermen endure day in and day out for pitiful pay, but also the overall theme of the movie which is made clear in the powerful ending, where ‘Ntoni is forced, tail in between his legs to get another low paying miserable job with the “blood-sucking” fish wholesalers. This “schiavitù senza scampo” can also sum up the lives of many of the protagonists of Giovanni Verga, an example being in Rosso Malpelo. The main character (Rosso Malpelo, a miner in the caves under Mount Etna) is doomed to his miserable fate and eventual death and there is no “scampo”, just like for the fishermen. Rosso Malpelo’s father was killed in a tragic accident in the same mines under Etna just as‘Ntoni’s father died in the same sea (Mar Ionio), neither of them tried to change their fate like ‘Ntoni did, but they were still doomed to a miserable outcome, as if the fate of ‘Ntoni was as sure of a thing as death was: “Semmai volesse “staccarsi dai suoi per vaghezza dell’ignoto, o per brama di meglio, o per curiosità di conoscere il mondo; il mondo, da pesce vorace ch’egli è, se lo ingoiò” (Fantasticheria, 1880). My professor Alessandro Carrera informed me about a very important difference between the works of Verga and Visconti, and that is the positive and optimistic message that Visconti leaves us with which comes into sharp contrast to Verga's pessimism. 'Ntoni says at the end of the film "We have to learn how to care for each other and unite for the common good, only then can we go ahead." - Jesse Sifuentes, October 2011 Mamma Roma, un film classico in vena di neorealismo italiano con sfumature surreali, ambientato a Roma, una città piena di contraddizioni proprio come questo capolavoro di Pier Paolo Pasolini. Si tratta di un ex-prostituta Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) che sta cercando disperatamente di lasciare indietro il suo passato difficile e vuole provvedere a suo figlio Ettore (Ettore Garofolo) affinché lui non diventi un delinquente come un sacco di altri ragazzi nel loro quartiere. Ha una bancarella di frutta in piazza, guadagna legittimamente il suo appartamento modesto. Smania di cominciare una nuova vita con suo figlio a un quartiere perbene. Si vede chiaramente nel film che Mamma Roma vuole tanto bene a suo figlio, però non esita ad ricattare un proprietario ricco di una trattoria, sig. Pellissier (Vittorio La Paglia) affinché assumesse Ettore, sempre riluttante. Inoltre, convince un’amica, Biancofiore (Luisa Loiano) che è prostituta, a fare la seduttrice con Ettore perché lasciasse la sua ragazza la quale non piace a Mamma Roma, Biancofiore è dispostissima ad aiutare la sua amica. A questo punto si apprende che non pensa due volte di assicurare il loro futuro, con quasi qualsiasi mezzo Nonostante tutto ciò, Mamma Roma ha dei problemi a controllare Ettore che ormai scorrazza con un branco di malviventi, e la situazione peggiora sempre di più. Il manipolativo Carmine (Franco Citti) ex-amante/ruffiano di Mamma Roma, cerca di estorcere soldi a Mamma Roma e le minaccia di svelare a Ettore il passato squallida della sua madre se i soldi non gli sono pagati. Di conseguenza, Mamma Roma viene costretta a fare quello che giurava di non fare più, prostituirsi, durante queste vicende, Ettore continua a ribellarsi contro sua madre. Questi fattori producono una scena finale che è piena di emozione possente eppure rimane contenuto allo stesso tempo. Jesse Sifuentes, Settembre 2011. My article on Pier Paolo Pasolini's Mamma Roma was published in La Voce Italiana, an Italian-American newspaper based in Houston, Texas. I share my gratitude to Ryan Calabretta-Sajder for the correspondence and publishing. |
Jesse SifuentesTopics: Italian Language, Culture, Film, and Ancient Rome (written in Italian and English) ArchivesCategories |
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