Italian Neo-Realism

The cinematic art form offers a platform to showcase the human experience in its most, raw, engagingly powerful form. This experience, this showcase of human interaction with emotion, culture, ethnicity, and perspective has always been cinema’s defining artistic trait. The way we see, the way we view, and the way we engage with a film enables us, the viewer, to connect with the perspectives of other cultures. Thus, we are provided with a better viewpoint on social, economic, and political topics. Italian Neo-Realism is a film style that I find most notably embodies this ideology, providing its viewers with a raw, first person take, on socio-economic issues like poverty and wartime devastation. This cinematic movement has impacted the way contemporary

This style of film has inspired filmmakers to document the world’s reality, showcasing human emotion and real-life circumstances by employing many of the same techniques used by past directors. Gabrielle Muccino’s 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness is a perfect example of a contemporary film that is influenced by Italian Neo-Realism. The locations used within the film are all real locations, documenting the roughness of life in the city, struggling on the streets, and sleeping in bathrooms. It provides an in-depth take on living under the influence of poverty in America. With his son suffering by his side and his continuous search for work and money, the same stylistic ideologies are utilized and shown as a relevant influence on film in a contemporary setting. Another example of Italian Neo-Realism’s long-lasting impact on cinematic culture would be Ryan Coogler’s 2013 film Fruitvale Station which also uses real-life locations and circumstances to document the life of Oscar Grant who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2009. The film uses real-world scenarios to portray Grant as a real human being in American society. He is not a movie star. He is not a celebrity. He is a man with a child, a family, a group of friends, and a life. The growth and development the audience sees between his personal issues, his love for family, and his unfortunate death all appeal to the humanitarian aspect of Italian Neo-Realist Cinema, marking its influence on the way Coogler portrayed this idea to the