Neorealism can be traced back to Italy at the end of World War II. It was a way for directors to manifest their rejection of the often hegemonic Hollywood style of cinema that focused mainly on bourgeois classes. Neorealists felt that Hollywood or classic cinema did not give insight nor a correct representation of reality, especially a reality that reflected the turmoil of war. This new type of cinema focused on the plight of the lower classes and rejected the glamorous facade of Hollywood by using nonprofessional actors, filming on location, and avoiding tropes found in Hollywood. Neorealism’s tendency to reject of the norm became a way to raise social consciousness. It created a space to discuss the state of society by highlighting subjects that were considered uncomfortable and were not commonly talked about.
Apart from just the subject matter of these films, the actual editing and mis-en-scene of the films add to the push for social consciousness. One of the common threads found in neorealist film is the favoring of long takes. These long takes linger on extras and places long after the main character has left the frame. This lingering allows for a more de-centered film which is essential to the social conscious aspect as it allows and very well forces the viewer to not become so invested in the story being told that they forget that this is not an individual story but rather one of many stories like it happening at the time. By pulling the emphasis off of the main character, the directors are attempting to tell the audience that the characters themselves don’t matter so much as their struggle and how the struggle shown is just one of many happening to others like those main characters- the characters don’t exist but their problems are real and shared by many others like them- even within the same movie universe.
An example of this can be seen in the opening scene of Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948) when the main character, Antonio, is introduced. The scene opens on a group of men waiting to be called for work placement- in this long take the crowd of men is shown all enduring the same struggle and then Antonio is called the film could have easily followed one of the other many men waiting to be called for work and had a similar message the point is not that Antonio is a special character it’s more about the use of his struggle to point out how everyone is suffering. He is just there to help audience members follow along after becoming so used to the narrative qualities of Hollywood films.
The lingering quality of neorealist films is an important aspect that in some instances can actually make audience members feel bored simply because it is so different than the fast paced, easy resolution films of Hollywood. However, the very thing that could make them boring, makes these films special and gives them the power to be something more than what Hollywood could and still can create. This argument has been made before beautifully through the comparison of Terminal Station and Indiscretion of an American Wife two different cuts of the same film, one left in its original state the other cut by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick (https://vimeo.com/68514760).
References:
The Bicycle Thieves. Dir. Vittorio De Sica. 1948.