La strada: The Cinema of Poetry and the Road beyond Neorealism

Abstract

With the astounding international success of Roma, citta aperta ( Open City , 1945) by Roberto Rossellini (1906–77), war-weary Europe and America encountered what was considered to be a new cinematic aesthetic, Italian neorealism. In a very brief space of time (no more than a decade), a number of relatively inexpensive films were exported from Italy and were greeted abroad (although not always within Italy itself) with great critical acclaim. Besides the work of Rossellini (especially Roma, citta aperta and Paisa [ Paisan , 1946]), the neorealist moment in cinematic history was advanced by major works such as Sciuscia ( Shoeshine , 1946), Ladri di biciclette ( The Bicycle Thief , 1948), and Umberto D . (1951) by Vittorio De Sica (1901–74); La terra trema (1948) by Luchino Visconti (1906–76); Riso amaro ( Bitter Rice , 1948) by Giuseppe De Santis (1917–97); Without Pity ( Senza pieta , 1948) by Alberto Lattuada (1914–); and Il cammino della speranza ( The Path of Hope , 1950) by Pietro Germi (1914–74). Film critics and directors of the period who praised such works believed that the Italian neorealists were moving cinema away from the Hollywood “dream factory” toward the actual streets and squares of war-torn Europe. In their view, Italian neorealism represented a victory for social realism over fiction and fantasy. Those critics and professionals who supported the production of neorealist films and a fresh view of Italian life in the cinema believed that cinema should stress social context, a sense of historical immediacy, political commitment to progressive social change, and an anti-Fascist ideology.