Editing Italian neorealism (section)

== History ==
Italian [[neorealism (art)|neorealism]] came about as [[World War II]] ended and [[Benito Mussolini]]'s [[Italian Social Republic|government]] fell, causing the Italian film industry to lose its centre. Neorealism was a sign of cultural and social change in Italy. New realism films are considered to be films with specific styles and philosophies that emerged during the turbulent period after World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shiel |first=Mark |title=Italian neorealism: rebuilding the cinematic city |date=2006 |publisher=Wallflower |isbn=978-1-904764-48-9 |series=Short cuts |location=London New York}}</ref> Its films presented contemporary stories and ideas and were often shot on location as the [[Cinecittà]] film studios had been damaged significantly during the war.

The neorealist style was developed by a circle of film critics that revolved around the magazine ''Cinema'', including:

* [[Luchino Visconti]]
* [[Gianni Puccini]]
* [[Cesare Zavattini]]
* [[Giuseppe De Santis]] 
* [[Pietro Ingrao]]

Largely prevented from writing about politics (the [[editor-in-chief]] of the [[magazine]] was [[Vittorio Mussolini]], son of [[Benito Mussolini]]), the critics attacked the ''[[Telefoni Bianchi]]'' ("white telephone") films that dominated the industry at the time. As a counter to the popular mainstream films, some critics felt that Italian cinema should turn to the [[realism (arts)|realist]] writers from the turn of the 20th century.

[[File:Bruno Caruso - Suonatori ambulanti - 1953.jpg|thumb|Wandering Musicians by Italian neorealist artist [[Bruno Caruso]] (1953)]]
Many of the filmmakers involved in neorealism developed their skills working on [[Calligrafismo]] films in the early 1940s (although the short-lived movement was markedly different from neorealism). Elements of neorealism are also found in the films of [[Alessandro Blasetti]] and the documentary-style films of [[Francesco De Robertis]]. Two of the most significant precursors of neorealism are [[Jean Renoir]]'s ''[[Toni (1935 film)|Toni]]'' (1935) and Blasetti's ''[[1860 (film)|1860]]'' (1934). Both Visconti and [[Michelangelo Antonioni]] worked closely with Renoir.

In the spring of 1945, Mussolini was executed and Italy was liberated from German occupation. This period, known as the "Italian Spring", broke from old ways and fostered a more realistic approach to making films. Italian cinema went from utilizing elaborate studio sets to shooting on location in the countryside and city streets in a realist style.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Kristin|last2=Bordwell|first2=David|title=Film History: An Introduction|publisher=McGraw Hill|year=2010|pages=330–331|isbn=978-0070384293}}</ref>

Although the true beginning of neorealism has been widely contested by theorists and filmmakers, the first neorealist film is generally thought to be Visconti's ''[[Ossessione]]'', released in 1943, during the occupation. Neorealism became famous globally in 1946 with Roberto Rossellini's ''[[Rome, Open City]]'', when it won the Grand Prize at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] as the first major film produced in Italy after the war.

Italian neorealism rapidly declined in the early 1950s. [[Liberalism|Liberal]] and [[socialist]] parties were having difficulties presenting their message. The vision of the existing poverty and despair, presented by neorealist cinema, was demoralizing a nation anxious for prosperity and change. Additionally, the first positive effects of the [[Italian economic miracle]] period{{--}}such as gradual rises in income levels{{--}}caused the themes of neorealism to lose their relevance. As a consequence, most Italians favored the optimism shown in many American movies of the time. The views of the post-war Italian government of the time were also far from positive, and the remark of [[Giulio Andreotti]], who was then a vice-minister in the [[Alcide De Gasperi|De Gasperi]] cabinet, characterized the official view of the movement: Neorealism is "dirty laundry that shouldn't be washed and hung to dry in the open".<ref>{{cite book|first1=Elisa|last1=Cuter|first2=Guido|last2=Kirsten|first3=Hanna|last3=Prenzel|title=Precarity in European Film: Depictions and Discourses|volume=1|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|year=2022|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9twEAAAQBAJ&dq=andreotti+%22dirty+laundry+that+shouldn%27t+be+washed+and+hung+to+dry+in+the+open%22&pg=PA88|page=88|isbn=978-3110707816}}</ref>

Italy's move from individual concern with neorealism to the tragic frailty of the human condition can be seen through [[Federico Fellini]]'s films. His early works ''[[La Strada]]'' (1954) and ''[[Il bidone]]'' (1955) are transitional movies. The larger social concerns of humanity, treated by neorealists, gave way to the exploration of individuals. Their needs, their alienation from society and their tragic failure to communicate became the main focal point in the Italian films to follow in the 1960s. Similarly, Antonioni's ''[[Red Desert (film)|Red Desert]]'' (1964) and ''[[Blow-up]]'' (1966) take the neorealist trappings and internalise them in the suffering and search for knowledge brought out by Italy's post-war economic and political climate.

In the early 1950s the neorealist torch was picked up by artists like Sicily's [[Bruno Caruso]], whose work focused on the warehouses, shipyards and psychiatric wards of his native [[Palermo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bruno-caruso.com/ink-oils-archive#neoink/|title=Ink & Oils|access-date=18 November 2022}}</ref>