Overview of Italy’s Historical and Societal Conditions During the World Wars

Italy was in the midst of both the World Wars of the twentieth century. The World Wars had a devastating impact on the economic structure of Italy, as well as destroying the societal conditions (Keynes). After the First World War, the situation in Italy worsened because of the Great Depression. The Great Depression signified that economic situation, where the currency of the various War inflicted economies, devalued to a large extent (Keynes). The post war reconstruction that was envisioned by many people, failed to take place, as there was no noteworthy finances left with the Government of the States. A such, the condition of the people continued to deteriorate even after the end of the First World War. The frustration faced by the people manifested in the form of an outbreak of the Second World War (Keynes). The economy and society, which was left ravaged by the First World War, was completely destroyed during the Second World War. This paper seeks to discuss the conditions prevailing in Italy towards the end of the Second World War. For this purpose, two Italian movies have been taken as guidelines, which reveal the societal conditions of Italy during those days. In the first part, the paper discusses about Roberto Rossellini’s Open City (1945) and in the second part, Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) has been analyzed. The paper then discusses the approach taken by the two movies to portray the reality of Italy, during two important historical moments of humankind. In conclusion, the paper looks into the significance of movies as an important source of gaining knowledge about the world around us.

Roberto Rossellini’s Open City, which was featured in 1945, is a film with immense historical significance (Cragin). It was directed and produced at a time when the German troops still had their presence in the country. Germany, after its humiliating defeat in the First World War, wanted to establish its supreme control over all the European powers. For this purpose, it set up alliances with European countries with similar mindset, such as that of Italy. However, there were a few common people within the Italian society who did not agree with the objectives of the Germans and posed a serious challenge to the German Government. The German military troops destroyed the Italian society, shutting down cinema halls and any other agencies of propaganda (Kolker). The Germans wanted to keep the Italians under their control and any sign of resistance from the common people would be negative to the aims and objectives of the Germans.

Under such tense conditions. Roberto Rossellini decided to shoot for a nerve-wrecking movie about an Italian priest, named Don Pietro (Forgacs). He also decided to mix the cause of the partisan children who were widely active against the imposition of the objectives of the Germans. The plot of the movie is delicately interwoven. The movie stars a character named Giorgio Manfredi who takes the help of a priest Don Petro, who was anti-Fascist in his ideals and Francesco, a partisan printer, to be kept safe from the German troops in Italy. However, Francesco is killed on the day of his wedding and the German troops tortures Manfredi to death, to reveal sensitive information about those who are involved in Resistance activities against the Garman and Italian Government. Don Pietro is executed the following day, while the partisan children witness the execution.

Analyzing Roberto Rossellini’s Open City

Through this movie, Rossellini wanted to portray the desolate condition prevailing in Italy during the 1940s. Italy joined the Second World War on the side of the Axis (consisting of Germany, Japan and Italy), but through the midway, it changed its stance in the favor of the Allied Powers (the United States, Britain and France) (Kaiser). In 1943, the German troops raided the country of Italy and occupied it, causing large-scale devastation to the Italian economy and society (Kaiser). The German troops had the license to take all means necessary which would keep the German dream alive – that of world domination. The movie tries to show the vulnerable societal conditions of hunger and despair of almost all the Italian citizens. The people involved in the Resistance Movement were hunted down, thrown into imprisonment and tortured. Even the children were not spared by the German troops.

The situation in Italy changed somewhat after the end of the Second World War. The German occupation of Italy came to an end with the defeat of the German forces. This provided relief to the people of Italy as their oppression came to an end (Locke). However, the economic and societal conditions of Italy remained as ravaged as before. The economy was completely destroyed and there was hardly any employment opportunities. The people were reduced to begging on the streets for their daily needs (Locke). This adversely resulted in poor societal conditions as the miserable economic situation forced people to steal from others.

Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves came out in 1948. This movie reveals the societal and economic conditions prevailing in Italy just after the end of the Second World War (Cardullo). Vittorio De Sica based the movie on a very poor household, where the husband, Antonio, finally manages to get a job on putting up movie posters across the town. For the convenience of her husband, the wife manages to get a bicycle for him through great hardship. However, on the first day of the job itself, Antonio’s bicycle is stolen and he spends the entire day in frenzy looking for his bicycle, along with his son. During their search, Vittorio De Sica magnificently portrays the poor and pathetic societal conditions existing in Italy during that time. In his quest, Antonio comes across various citizens of Italy who are in the same economic situation as he was in (Cardullo).

The movie tried to show the devastating condition of the Italian people after the end of the Second World War. The course of the War left the whole country ravaged and destroyed. Being employed was hard and societal morals were at an all time low. Vittorio De Sica tried to show that material elements were the top priority for everyone during that time, while they neglected their families (Sforza Tarabochia). Antonio went on a spree across the entire town on the search for his bicycle, with his young son trailing behind him. At times, he even forgot about the safety of his little child. The main message that the Director was trying to give through this movie is that the condition of Italy during those days was so miserable that the common people were trying simply to survive. Being concerned for the family was a luxury that only the rich could afford. The poor people had much serious concern such as getting the bare minimum for survival.

Analyzing Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves

Roberto Rossellini’s Open City (1945) and Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) fall within the genre of Neorealism (Burke). The age of Neorealism emerged after the Second World War, with the fall of Mussolini. The important characteristics of Italian Neorealist movies were that they generally dealt with the situation prevailing amongst the working class of the society and the movies were shot on location (Burke). The era of Italian Neorealist movies was considered to be an era of Golden Age within Italian cinema. This is so because the movies of such genre tried to portray the harsh realities of the existing society and the need for social progress.

Roberto Rossellini’s Open City (1948) was considered to be too progressive for its time. Roberto Rossellini managed to direct an awe-inspiring movie with limited budget and at a time, when directing movies against German troops was considered to be the highest form of treachery (Smith). The movie focused on the harsh social realities of the prevailing time. It tried to showcase the inhumane activities carried out by the German troops for the achievement of their dreams (Smith). The killing of Francesco on the day of his wedding, shooting Francesco’s pregnant fiancé Pina and the torturing of Manfredi and the consequent hanging of the priest Don Pietro, portrayed the strength of the German forces. They had the power to kill anybody without being held accountable for their actions.

In contrast, Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) focused more on the societal conditions prevailing in Italy after the end of the Second World War. While Rossellini showed the oppression of the German forces on the Italian community, De Sica tried to portray the miserable conditions of Italy after the end of Second World War and consequently, the end of any external oppression. De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves portrayed that the economy of Italy still remained so desolate after the end of the Second World War, that people still lived with fear in their minds (Tagliani). They were not yet free to take care of the real problems such as looking out for the well-being of their family members.

Both the movies showed the harsh desperate realities of Italy which persisted with the onset of the Second World War. Wars have a devastating impact on humankind and it takes decades and generations before the entire economy and society can be rebuild into a desirable one (Fabbri). Rossellini and Vittorio played a commendable part in revolutionizing Italian cinema during the mid-twentieth century.

In conclusion, it is observed that movies have a significant part to play within the societal structure. They are one of the important channels via which the harsh realities of the world is brought to the forefront. They educate the people on what is lacking in the society and what needs to be done to improve the societal morals of people, as is seen in De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948). When the robber stole his bicycle, he or she did may have done it out of compulsion. However, it posed a great concern for Antonio’s wife who had to sell many things to purchase the bicycle. Similarly, the oppressive activities carried out by the German troops, as shown in Rossellini’s Open City (1945) showed to the world the harmful and regressive effects of Wars on the society and economy. Thus, these movies are an invaluable source to know about the devastating impact of the Second World War on the common people of Italy.

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