Do you agree with Andre Bazin that Ladri de Biccilette is an example of ‘pure cinema’? (Bazin [1971] p. 60).
To what extent is such a pure cinema possible and, in your opinion, which Italian Neo-realist film screened on the unit comes closest to it? Explain your reasoning. This essay will address the characteristics of ‘pure cinema’ and the extent of its practical nature. It also seeks to analyse the film Ladri de Biccilette whilst exploring the traits of pure cinema in this film.
The definition of pure cinema refers to a cinema where real life is projected onto the screen in way that creates the illusion of reality. The more the aspects of a film are closer to real life, the purer the cinema it will be regarded. Pure cinema does not concern itself whether the audience is bored, shocked, thrilled or satisfied, and also would not care much how the scenes are interpreted. It seeks purely to reflect what is going on in reality, without intentionally altering or cutting parts out in order to manipulate a specific set of emotions from its audience.
In perfect pure cinema, there is no lighting added to the scene and things are filmed as they were perceived before the existence of the camera in the scene. The location and settings, which are the most important defining aspect of pure cinema, are real places instead of studio-based scenes, and the director does not manipulate mise-en-scene, either. The events are just the ones of ordinary issues and dialogues are simple and do not necessarily follow a good grammar. In other words, there is no exaggeration nor dramatization of the events.
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Using real people instead of actors, and allowing them to act and speak freely with a small amount of direction, is another characteristic of pure cinema. The position of the camera is random and the camera usually films everything in a long-take and wide angle (like looking through a window).
In pure cinema, the director has not got a firm script, which he has to follow step by step. Instead he tries to be receptive to the world around him and films everything and leaves it up to the audience to draw the meaning themselves. These are the essential characteristics of pure cinema, ut how many of these characteristics can be found in the film Ladri de Biccilette is what that will explored in the next paragraph. Ladri di Biccilette (Vitoria de Sica, 1948) is one of the films that started the wave of Neo-realist films in Italy. The core target of this film, like other neo-realist films, was mainly to reflect the life of the worker, which up this point in Italian history, had been ignored in their films. The social position of the victims in the Ladri di Biccilette, in which the actors are only placed to move the story forward, is what carries the main message of the film.
The actual story of the film, as Bazin believes, is not even enough to fill a paragraph of a news article. In the opening scene of the film, a crowd of unemployed men are waiting to find out that there is only one job available. All the people used in this film are normal people whose real lives were similar to the one in the film. The role of the worker was played by somebody who was working in a factory nearby, while the role of the son was played by a boy who was found in the streets of Rome and a journalist played the role of the wife.
There are no studio-based scenes and all the locations are real places in Rome, which is in itself of historical value with the documenting of the landscape of Rome, post World War II. Events in the film look quite random and accidental. For example, when the worker is reporting his bicycle stolen to the police officer, another officer, who is leaving the station with a group of soldiers, suddenly calls upon the first officer. The camera moves its focus from the worker and the police officer and his colleagues, in a way that looks random and accidental.
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Another good example of the accidental look of the film and the existence of a kind of ‘dead’ time is the rain scene, in which the rain forces the worker and his son to take refuge at the front of a building. A group of German priests joins them and start to talk in German, which again felt very accidental. The camera films everybody until the rain stops without a single cut, contributing to this aspect of ‘dead’ time. Ladri de Biccilette is a very successful film in creating natural and believable moments.
While the worker and his son are off searching for the bicycle, there is moment where the child tries to urinate in street. This is an indication of profound realism, where even examples of the most private behaviour and dialogue are shared with the audience. The connection between the worker and his son is one of the most natural relationships existing in this film. Poverty almost closes the gap between the worker and his child, as the father does not have money and education to make him considerably superior.
The family needs to send the young child to work and the worker needs his help and company to search for his bicycle. The dialogue between the father and son is like dialogue between two adults. The worker talks about their income and his strategies to attempt to improve their lives, while the son criticizes his dad when he created a situation which caused the old man to run away. The most important part of the film is the last scene, where local people catch the worker as he runs away with the stolen bicycle.
The child witnesses everything and later when his dad realises what has happened, the son grabs the hand of his father. From this moment onwards, the worker does not have anything superior over his child, because his child, as Bazin (1971) says, has suddenly become an adult. There are many moments where the film fulfils its mission, as an Italian Neo-realist film, to screen the daily life of the worker, their sad and happy moments, struggles and times of relief, plus their values and beliefs. In the church scene, there are many layers of meaning skilfully constructed.
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The organisers of the church services are all wearing new and expensive clothes and very clearly show their superiority over the lay/ normal people, all of whom are wearing old and dirty clothes to the service. When the worker talks to an old man (who wanted to buy his stolen bicycle), one of the locals tells the worker that “talking is sinful”. It suggests that the organisers of the services are all quite well off and disconnected from the poor’s suffering, while they are there to celebrate their relative prosperity in life by being able to give food away to the community.
The religion advertised by these people does not allow for complaint, as it is said that “talking is sinful”. In this scene, the worker represents a group of Italians who are poor, but their dignity stops them from accepting charity. In the scene where there is a long queue of people waiting to ride the bus, there are some women who we see roughly pushed onto the bus amongst men. This scene, just on its own, claims that in extreme poverty, gender-roles lose their function in society and differences between humans and animals are also diminished.
Not everything in this film has the character of pure cinema. In a few places, music is used to create a dramatic effect and imposes a particular state of emotion on the viewer. For example; the scene when the worker and his wife are carrying buckets of water into their home would not have the same dramatic effects without music. The camera position in this film, unlike the character of pure cinema which suggests a much more random and accidental placement, seems more carefully placed to effect a particular meaning.
In the scene where the worker is waiting to get his newly-purchased bicycle, the camera, as the POV of the worker, films the man who is climbing the shelves to put their bed sheets in its place. This shot, for example, is very cleverly designed to convey the escalation of poverty. Another shot which suggests that the director is manipulating the camera position, and in some places the mise-en-scene, is where the worker and his friends are walking past the film posters. This shot helps considerably to create a contrast between reality and what is on the movies.
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I do not see Ladri di Biccilette as a perfect example of pure cinema, but I would partially agree with Basin’s statement that this film is one the first examples of pure cinema. This film certainly has many of the characteristics of pure cinema, but also has many of those belonging to artistic cinema. Bazin (1971) claims that in this film there are “no more actors, no more story, no more sets”, but I believe by using non-actors in a film, you can guarantee that there is no ‘acting’ in a film. There are a lot of people who have never been trained to become actors but who have an absolutely natural talent as actors.
In this film, the lead actor was clearly was a natural actor in that he was able to become frustrated, angry, cry and joke in front of camera. As I explained earlier in my essay, the camera position is also manipulated in order to convey particular meanings, as well as mises-en-scene in some places. Pure cinema , in my view, suggests something perfect and a perfect thing does not exist. Filmmakers can only try to create a film closer to “reality”.
