Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

INTRODUCTION

The World War II devastated the national cinemas tremendously, affecting the economic stability of the cinema industries. The Nazis destroyed prewar European economy, and setting up its own economic threshold. By the end of WWII, the Nazi economy was eliminated. Mashall Plan rebuilt the European national industries, allowing production to go on a large scale. For Italy, due to the early surrender, the production facilities were pretty much intact. For Pre-War Italian Cinema, in 1922, Benito Mussolini seized power and Italian Cinema was used as a form of propaganda, educating Italians with documentaries and newreels. He set up Cinecitta studios in Rome and in 1937, he took charge of the studios and doubled Italian production within a year. 

THEORY DISCUSSION

The Italian Neorealism was founded in 1943 by Cesare Zavattini, suggesting a new form of Italian Cinema that abolishes contrived and planned plots, use real people and locations so that direct contact is established with the contemporary social reality. The Plots are fake structures of "everyday life",the actors are contribute to the falsehood and establish connection to Contemporary Social Realism by using real locations.  

SYNOPSIS

Unemployed Antonio Ricci is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. His wife, Maria, sells the family's bed linens to retrieve Ricci's bicycle from the pawnshop so he can take the job. However, disaster strikes when Ricci's bicycle is stolen, and his new job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his lively son, Bruno and also his several friends, Ricci combs the city, growing increasingly desperate for justice. Ricci desperate until caused him to steal the bicycle and end up he got caught.  

ANALYSIS

In this film, the shots of locations were shown as in the ruins of the post-war era. In film making, a location is any place where a film crew will be filming actors and recording their dialogues. Film makers often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place. In this scene, it's a long takes of locations, buildings, roads and the bridges. 

Besides, this film used the grainy film stock which giving it its newsreel look. Obviously, the visual of this film was not that clear enough to be watch. 

In addition, the socially conscious and the humanistic point of view were shown in few scenes of this film. For example, the socially conscious was shown at the first scene where Ricci was at the employment booth (disseminating job). This is the Ricci unemployed scene which show the situation of of unemployment in the post War World II. Furthermore, in the police station scene also shown the humanistic point of view. In this scene, the police was not helpful at all when Ricci went to make police report about his lost but the police do not even want to bother him as the police think that it's just a small case or crime which not worth enough for them to investigate. Not only this, the humanistic was shown in the church scene where the church offered the foods, haircut service and so on for free. This whole film also possesses the melodramatic aspects such as the background music and the sound effect was quite loud enough.

  

Ricci is an useless husband and father in this film. In the beginning of this film, her wife was asked whether Ricci could get a job and she's carrying a water bucket at that moment. All along the way they back home, Ricci not even help his wife to cary the water bucket but just letting his wife carry the water bucket for so long. Besides, he also show the characteristics of a useless father where Ricci was focusing on looking for his bicycle until he do not know his son was fell down at the street. He has never been concerned about his son's health at all when he asked his son to look for his bicycle for whole day even when it's rainy day. What he want is just to get back his bicycle but at the same time, he already neglected his own son. 

Last but not least, this film also emphasis on the present. From the beginning of this film, Ricci get his job and her wife exchange her bedsheet and got some money to get back their bicycle. Unfortunately, Ricci lost his bicycle on the second day which also his first day of working. When the third day, Ricci, his son and his several friends were looking for the bicycle but at the end still cannot find it. 

CONCLUSION 

As a conclusion, the points mentioned above were combined in order to make an Italian Neorealism film. Those points were actually the characteristics of the Italian Neorealism film. Even the film was in black and white but all the elements included could bring out different meaning to the audiences as well.  

Dark City (1998)

INTRODUCTION

Dark city (1998) is a movie that released on 27th February 1998 which directed by Alex Proyas, who is an Australian film director, scriptwriter and producer. He is a best known for directing this Dark City film, Gods of Egypt and others. 

So basically I would like to choose the German Expression as the theory to discuss about this film and how this theory shown and applied in this film. So what is German Expression? German Expression is an artistic genre that originated in Europe. In this film, there are few characteristics or styles of German Expression were included. And now, I would like to discuss about what's style were included in this film as below. 

SYNOPSIS

John Murdoch awakens in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of murders. He stumbles over an evil underworld controlled by a group of aliens which known as The Strangers who possess the ability or power to make people in city sleep and transform the city when John Murdoch trying to piece together his past. John Murdoch got to find a way in order to stop the aliens or strangers before they control and destroy John's minds or memories.

ANALYSIS

First of all, the styles in German Expression which included in this film is the distorted bodies and the shapes which give a meaning of the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance. The most obvious example is the movement of the Aliens or the Strangers move is not by walking but is fluttering.   

For example, the buildings in the city were changing landscape when The Strangers tend to catch John Murdoch. Obviously, this scene shown where the buildings in dark city were twisted and squeezed when The Strangers and John Murdoch who having the ability to make the buildings changed were fighting each other. All the buildings sprout from the ground up in a very realistic form, shaping and deforming as they shoot upwards. This overall shown the density of the city.

Not only this, John Murdoch and the head of the Strangers or aliens begin their "tuning" combat battle, resulting in a brilliant display of light and the crook effect. This scene shown the distortion wave popple from the center of the Strangers' machinery. 

Furthermore, the Surrealism also can be found in this film. Surrealism gives a meaning of super real. It's the superior reality of certain forms of association found in dream. In this film, the city as facts of the different eras on earth. For example, the Dr.Schreber put the two rats into the small maze shown that the city was the maze and the rats were the human who lived in the city and all of this is an experiment as well. Humans' memories keep on changing until all the humans thought that the memories in their mind were real but in fact it's not. 

In addition, the chiaroscuro lighting was used. Chiaroscuro lighting is the high contrast or the low key lighting. For example, John Murdoch walked in the dark street which people can't even see his face due to the lighting setting. 

Last but not least, there are few categories which fall under the themes were also included in this film which are the sexual savagery, the primitive, the self-analysis, the revolt and the madness. 

In this scene, the sexual savagery theme shown. The Strangers or Aliens murdered the woman by using the knife to draw a circle with no ending. 

The primitive theme was existed in this film where the Strangers use the knife which counted as a slasher weapons to murder the human or the woman. 

Beside this, the self-analysis theme was existed too where John Murdoch trying and wanted to find his own identity after he woke up and encountered with the memories lost problem. He keep on questioning himself and also the things surrounded him.

The revolt theme was existed in the scene where John Murdoch supposed not to be have the ability of tuning power in the system but he tend to adapted and developed it. He also went to against the Aliens and the system as well, this action called revolt. 

Lastly, the madness theme existed where the inspector Frank Bumstead was mad when he broke down the wall in order to search for the truth. Another example is John has the ability to reshaping the city in whatever way he want. He end up reshape the city as the shell beach and also the Anna due to the reasons of John was too obsession with the shell beach and also Anna. 

CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, the combinations of those theory as above mentioned could really make this film become more attractive and interesting. A film should not only include the mix genre but also need too include the theories as above so that can bring out a more different film as well.