Night of the Shooting Stars

1.      The Night of the Shooting Stars definitely has aspects of neorealism. It tells a fairly realistic story of a group of Tuscan Italians making their way to find American soldiers. The story has its neorealism events. It has tragic moments, like people gathering in a church when that church gets bombed with them inside. And it has its moments that catch you off guard. Like the group of boys peeping at the woman in the middle of the night, and other strange sexual encounters that we don’t expect and can even make us uncomfortable.

The film also rejects neorealism and puts in more dramatic, cinematic qualities. Like while the group is waiting for the bombing to begin, we can hear a few individual thoughts and memories about their homes. And when the bombing takes place, there are close up shots of their ears to show that they can hear it, and to put a more dramatic effect on the scenario.

2.       Night of the Shooting Stars seemed more like a drama instead of a documentary. Rome Open City, being more neorealist, looked more like a documentary. It even had real archival footage of soldiers marching through the city. Night of the Shooting Stars had more dramatic elements in the way things were presented, like close up shots of the ears to hear sounds and hearing individual thoughts. And it had a more happy ending.

3.      The view of the child may mean innocence, but I didn’t see much of it. She didn’t look that innocent when she was smashing the remaining eggs that she already sat on. The only thing that might come from a child’s point of view is how we don’t see much history or back story to the characters. I found some parts confusing to see people act a certain way towards other characters. There could have been some romantic pasts between some, but we don’t know it. All we see are people acting sexually to each other for no reason, like eating a piece of watermelon after a woman was bathing herself in it.

The Bicycle Theves

1.      Antonio, among many others, can’t find a job because of a depression following World War 2. Economic depressions can be solved by adding industry to a country, or to the city. It could be solved the same way America’s Great Depression was. President Roosevelt convinced the people that the only way to gain money is by also spending it. Buying products from companies would increase the demand for them, and lead to more production needs and jobs.

Antonio did suffer from isolation. But I think everyone at the time was feeling the same way without available work and little help to make a living. They needed to help themselves before they could help others. Because he was desperate, he had a fragile human condition.

2.      Antonio cared for Bruno as any loving father would. Antonio would try to keep Bruno happy by taking him out to eat, even though they had little money left. He obviously cared for Bruno. When another child fell off the bridge into the river, Antonio was frightened and distraught when he thought he lost Bruno. But throughout the film, the sides turn. After Antonio can’t get his bike, he loses hope. Bruno takes his hand as they walk away to show that now he needs to support his father emotionally. And maybe in the future he may need to support his father financially.

3.       In the crowd scenes, the people leave Antonio alone, for the most part. They do not help him, even when he asks for it. This might be because in the desperate times, they need to help themselves first. The ways the crowds are shown in the film are by having the camera right in the middle of the people. It makes us feel like we are in the crowd with the characters and not watching from overhead.

4.      The title “Bicycle Thieves” refers to both the first thief and Antonio. At the end of the film, Antonio becomes so desperate that he tries to steal a bike. By Antonio becoming the thief, I got the insight of what led the first thief to steal in the beginning.