Italian Neorealism
Struggling body movement, pained facial expression, and tired eyes – this is the raw emotion you see and feel while watching Umberto D. (1952), the Italian Neorealism film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Umberto D. brings you into the life of an aging retired Civil Servant on government pension, and his struggle to barely make it by. The plot is realistic, the emotions are true, and the psychology of the old man is relatable. This film is the essence of the Italian Neo-realism movement- veritable and authentic.
The Italian Neo-Realism film movement lasted from about 1943-1952, for about a decade after World War 2. The plots are realistically based on economical conditions after the war, and the mental/emotional state the people were in. In the ideal neorealist film, the shots were long and on location, and real-life people played small-roles, and sometimes even primary roles. When a real life person portrays a character that has been through the same thing as they have, there is real authenticity to the performance that you wouldn’t find in a regular actor. Only the people who actually lived the experience know exactly how they acted and how they felt at the time.
The scenes in Umberto D. are effective and spark the waves of thought in your mind. Some of the scenes are so realistic that they are somewhat uncomfortable to watch. Most of the settings and shots in Umberto D. are not very stylistically beautiful, but that is exactly the point of realism. The run down roads of post war devastation create a mood that they couldn’t have achieved had they used a stylistically beautiful/fake set.
The psychological journey through the desperation that Umberto takes you on is similar to what a lot of old retirees during that time went through. With an extremely low pension rate and a high rent to pay, the retirees resorted to all kinds of solutions, whether it was begging on the streets or faking illness to receive a hospital bed and shelter. Umberto is too embarrassed to beg for money, and is in even deeper trouble because he also has a dog to support. By the end of the film, his dog Flikke is basically the only friend he has left- but Umberto knows that he won’t be able to support him. Umberto begins to look for places and people he can leave his puppy with. He goes to a home-run doggy daycare and asks them to look after Flikke in exchange for all his money and belongings (and ends up changing his mind). This shows us that Umberto has a deeper purpose of getting rid of things and dog: he is planning to give up on life and kill himself. Umberto would have never attempted to give up everything he had if he wanted to continue living. Umberto’s attempts at killing himself are basically stopped every time by his dog. At the end of the film, a feeling of relief overcomes you as you realize that all of Umberto’s attempts to kill himself failed, and his dog saved his life.
