Sometimes late last year I watched Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945) and was quite disappointed, seeing as it was such a classic. The emotion and story just felt hollow, and it made me feel ambivalent towards Italian neo-realist films. One of the major problems was the lack of subtlety and documentary touch that instead of making it feel real made it fake. I'm not very familiar with these kind of films, although I did love Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952). So, I decided to get The Bicycle Thieves by the same director, to see if this could sway my opinion again about these neo-realist films, and it certainly did. While leaning towards social-realism, the film is still cinematic and manages to convey emotions and subtle psychological drama. I don't really enjoy the idealistic aspects of neo-realism, preferring the more distanced and stylized approach of directors like Godard, although he admittedly was very influenced by neo-realism. I guess I just didn't like the approach of Rossellini, at least compared to De Sica, although I should probably continue to explore these directors and this tradition, to get a clearer view.
The story is a simple one, and since I like going to a film not knowing anything about the general story-line, I will not spoil it for the reader who hasn't seen Bicycle Thieves yet. Suffice to say, the film is great at conveying emotion and a slight touch of melodrama, portraying the difficult life of working class families in post-war Rome. One difference that I liked about De Sica's films is that they seem to focus on the individual's struggle, while Rome, Open City had a much more collective view, giving us a look at several different characters. De Sica gives us the story and troubles of one man and his family, and the film I feel is much more concise, and also an interesting psychological portrayal of the character, through some wonderful cinematic sequences. The film uses fairly usual cinematic techniques, but merges them with the down-to-earth everyday life of Rome, and while never becoming melodramatic, does have a fair bit of drama. The realism is gritty while at the same time the film has a fairly clean look to it, more than you would expect from a neo-realistic film. The craft is good, and I really feel De Sica already is an experienced filmmaker and storyteller.
You can also sense a bit of criticism and ideas on cinema in this film, as the poor main character hangs up posters of the latest Rita Hayworth film (Gilda I believe, quite a good film in it's own right), clearly condemning Hollywood, the film juxtapositions the impoverished Rome and the glamor of Hollywood. De Sica also seems to target the government and cynicism of Italy at the time, showing the suffering of normal people. What I liked about Bicycle Thieves though was that, unlike Rome, Open City, does not hammer us with it's moral, but rather leaves it in the background, there's no clear statement of intent, but rather a sigh at the state of Italy. The film has some wonderful ups and downs, but remains fairly bleak, leaving a big question mark at how the main characters are going to survive.
With the experience of Rome, Open City, I actually didn't expect this to be great, but it was. A wonderful film full of life, a compromise compared to Rome, Open City, but is genuinely downbeat and sad, while still retaining moments of happiness and hope. Wonderful.
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