During the dark days of World War II Italy, as the battlefield took over parts of Italy, Cinecittà , the country's version of Hollywood, was shut down. By 1944, the studio had stopped film production and was used as a refugee camp for Italians who fled the South. Since the compound at Cinecittà housed most of Italy's movie sets and sound stages, the country's filmmakers were left with nothing. So, what did director, Roberto Rossellini do? He took his cameras to the streets to document the despair of post-war Italy, and neorealism was born.
Neorealism is a style of filmmaking that uses real-life situations and mostly untrained actors to tell character-driven stories that do not rely on special effects, formatted scripts, or complicated camera angles. The director does not manipulate the audience. The characters do this with their eyes, struggles, and emotions as they constantly search for the truth. Rossellini's first documented attempt using this new technique was a film called "Roma, citta apertà ." The film showed the terror of Rome under German occupation. Rossellini was not trying to start a new style of filmmaking. It was just his way to work outside the studio, as Cinecittà was out of commission. However, a unique style was born, and all of Rossellini's work that followed carried the same theme of truth. He felt that reality was far more interesting than fictitious, contrived stories. It seemed like he made a career out of separating himself from artists and in a way, considered himself more of a documentary director than a movie director. Rossellini used the camera as eyes, the eyes of the desperate characters that felt defeated by the economic crisis following World War II. His films told the civilian's story and showed how people suffered.
Rossellini's post-war trilogy of neorealistic films includes "Roma, città aperta," "Paisa" and "Germania anno zero." Initially, the films were not commercial successes, and critics were harsh in their reviews. However, Rossellini stayed true to his vision due to the desire to make films how he wanted to, with a strict sense of truth and reality. Eventually, he moved away from fiction altogether and just made documentaries.
In 2005, the director's daughter, Isabella Rossellini, paid tribute to her father at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. There, she presented a short film that she wrote about her father and his contribution to Italian cinema. "My Dad is 100 Years Old" features a cast of characters who played important roles in her father's life and career. Among them are Federico Fellini, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and her mother, Ingrid Bergman. Isabella said that part of the reason she made the film was to express the complication of having a father who was also a genius. She depicts him as a large belly that wiggles as he speaks. There is no face, only a chest and stomach. The choice to portray her father in such a way sparked public criticism from her sister. However, Isabella defended her choice, saying that when she was a child, she rested her head on her father's belly, and the thought still gave her a sense of comfort. She also found the belly funny and wanted to add a bit of comedy to the film.
Rossellini was a true artist because he didn't see himself as an artist and considered the integrity of his subjects more important than the commercial success of his films.
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