Neorealism and Bicycle Thieves (1948)

The film “Bicycle Thieves” does some pretty strange things for a film to do in its time. These things now fit into a genre known as “neorealism”. Examples of that being using non-professional actors and shooting in the real locations. I believe they chose to do those things because they wanted to show the most real depiction of the subject matter. Post war Italy had a distinct feel and mood, and Sica probably wanted to capture it in his film. If he had a realistic mood and feel, the audience would become more engaged and care more for the characters in the environment. Using actors who are not professional and not well known is actually a smart idea. They have never acted before and are not known in the industry, so audiences can believe that they are the characters they are portraying. People connect more with the characters because they don’t see them as high end celebrity actors. That would captivate the audience more and engage the audience into the trails and tribulations of the characters. We have seen movies do these same strategies lately. A huge example of that being the Harry Potter franchise. They used non professional actors when casting their child characters. That caused the audience to engage and grow while watching the franchise as the child characters did as well. Schindler’s List shot all their scenes at the exact locations, including all the scenes set at Auchwitz. That choice brought a haunting realism to the film. You can feel the history of the tragedy as you watch the film. You get the mood and tone of everyday life for jewish citizens during the war as you watch the film. You feel for the jewish citizens and Schindler as he tries to save the jewish citizens, and that captures you throughout the film. They also chose to use a story that was realistic to current Italian citizens. This brought the audience and the characters on a level of understanding. Almost like the audience are just listening to a friend’s story. Casting non professional actors, using realistic plot points, and shooting at real locations are smart choices during filming if you want to bring your film that extra mile and captivate your audience. I believe that Vittorio De Sica chose to do those two things for that reason. He just wanted the audience to engage into the story and the characters on a deeper level than other films of the time.