Neorealism In Italian Cinema

In what ways do two films you have studied on the course support or contest the view that film genres are hybrid and in constant evolution?

Neorealism is a national film movement integral to Italian cinema. The end of World War II and the loss of the Italian film industry’s centre signalled the start of ‘The Golden Age of Italian Cinema’. In a shattered nation, Italian filmmakers attempted to capture the hardship of everyday life and a changing society. Over the decades, neorealism’s roots still persist in modern Italian cinema, inspiring the neo-neorealist movement. However, “increasingly neorealism is recognized as a hybrid genre, drawing on a wide range of different generic practices, from noir to fantasy” and is moving away from its purer

origins. This essay will focus on two films: firstly, the work of renowned neorealist Roberto Rossellini’s Paisà and also Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra. Sixty-two years separate these two fundamentally neorealist films (1946, 2008) and yet both portray many similar characteristics. This essay will analyse both films cinematographically and evaluate which film more aptly conforms to the concept of ‘pure neorealism’. Subsequently, it will review how the narrative of the films, despite their differing epochs, act as a mirror of society through neorealism. Although broadly speaking, neorealism changes and mutates, this essay will argue that the core of the genre remains true to its roots.

Neorealism became popular in the immediate post-war period.

The genre showed signs of social progress and cultural change across Italy and was used to comment on the experiences of ordinary people. Through neorealism, filmmakers aimed to move away from cinema’s escapist pleasures and believed they had a duty to inform and enlighten cinemagoers. The documentary-like objectivity that this created became the trademark of the genre. In the 1950s, however, Italian neorealism rapidly declined with the public increasingly craving optimistic Americanised cinema. This echoed the nation’s desire to move away from their poverty and despair, towards prosperity and

change.

As with any genre, there is constant debate attempting to define neorealism. Many veterans of the genre believe there is a ‘pure’ form of neorealism, and when straying away from this, the film ceases to be neorealist. Furthermore, there is a tendency to relate genres to a certain time period. For many, neorealism is a genre only relevant when the film was produced in the post-war period. This may be a result of the genre only gaining retrospective recognition. At the time, perhaps, not being recognised as explicitly being neorealist. Subsequently, neorealism has become a mark of classification within Italian cinema and a sense of prestige surrounds the genre. It is therefore no surprise that, “neorealism has come to be perceived as the ineluctable centre of Italian cinema for reasons that are as much ideological as aesthetic”. Nonetheless, genres need to provide the audience with reaffirmation of their respective conventions but offer the novelty of an unconventional twist. In this case, Gomorra obeys neorealist genre conventions but the narrative of the film, which focuses on the Camorra adds a novel quirk.

All neorealist films aim to create a sense of greater realism stylistically. Perhaps the biggest stylistic characteristic is the visual documentary style. This is achieved through: location shooting (regularly outdoors); frequent use of non-professional actors; conversational and dialectical language; and avoidance of pretence through editing, lighting and camerawork. Location shooting in the post-war period, particularly in public streets, became a necessity (as opposed to a wish) as a result of the main Italian film studios being damaged during the war. Paisà was mainly filmed in war-torn Italy. The Naples episode is particularly telling of what post-war Italy looked like, set against the rubble of destroyed buildings (refer to figure 3).
The location of the Vele in Gomorra holds externally contextual connotations and is central to the narrative strand.

The Vele is infamous outside the world of cinema. The housing complex, often referred to as a ghetto, became a haven for criminals and crime due to its lack of state presence. Like Paisà’s post-war setting, Gomorra is filmed in its own equivalent of a battlefield - the housing estate hub of the Camorra. For that reason, the Vele acts as the true figurative emblem of the Camorra, which “seems to condense the oppressive destiny of the characters in an architectural image”. Location shooting works alongside Garrone’s wish to use non-professional actors who are native to Scampia. In an attempt to make Gomorra as authentic as possible, Garrone spent several months at the Vele housing complex in Naples, “familiarizing himself with the neighbourhood, the local people and their ethos”. Locals performing in the film and actively participating in the filming was integral to creating Gomorra’s realism. Holdaway said that “the assumption is that local inhabitants create a more accurate representation of the location” and through this, realism is created through its proximity to reality.

The shooting in Gomorra is critical to its conformity to the neorealist genre. Hand-held cameras and long, drawn out shots capture the plot. This technique gives either an ‘over the shoulder’ perspective (refer to figure 1) or allows the audience to feel immersed in the film as a bystander

(refer to figure 2). In the Gomorra press notes, Garrone wrote:

“The raw material I had to work with when shooting Gomorrah was so visually powerful that I merely filmed it in as straightforward a way as possible, as if I were a passerby who happened to find himself there by chance. I thought this was the most effective way of reproducing the feeling I experienced during the time I spent making the film”

Here, Garrone recognises the need to refrain from over-editing and over-dramatising in order to attain the level of desired realism.
Also, he acknowledges one key characteristic of neorealist cinema: the portrayal of a society’s psyche, predicaments and life. Garrone realises that the simplest way to do so, is to let the action speak for itself without the aid of professional camera work, non-diegetic music, or editing. Gomorra’s cinematographer Marco Onorato’s camera “often snoops, peering around to find where the action is” and he has said “noi dovevamo semplicemente essere il più possibile invisibili, sia come regia che come fotografia, un occhio che segue quello che succede e basta”. Garrone wanted the cinematography to remain as detached as possible, presenting the action without bias. This method of filming offers a “new gaze into the Camorra underworld, stripping away its mythology, magnifying the incongruous mannerisms of the camorristi”. Through this, Garrone takes a socially anthropological gaze at mob life inside the microcosm of Scampia, neither glorifying nor slandering the Camorra.