[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bicycle_thieves_image.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Sure would be nice if they had a [[Film/BicycleThieves bike]].]]

If UsefulNotes/FascistItaly covered up the truth about Italian society with their "white telephone" films, produced by UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini's Cinecitta (a huge propaganda studio for the Italian state), Neorealism was a post-fascist and late-fascist attempt at BrutalHonesty: show just how much life can suck for the people at the bottom rung of society. At the same time, the neorealism style pointed out how poverty and poor people have stories and adventures where "little" things cause tremendous tragedy, and how almost anyone in the world, regardless of class is a HeroOfAnotherStory which is also TheGreatestStoryNeverTold.

The first Italian neorealist film is traditionally credited to be Creator/RobertoRossellini's ''Film/RomeOpenCity'' in 1945. This was produced, made, and shot right after the liberation of Italy, made with left-over film stock bought from the black market, and while it had major stars (namely comedian Alberto Soldi in a serious role as well as Anna Magnani's StarMakingRole), it turned heads for its use of non-professional in background roles, and its use of real locations, where background shots emphasized wartime devastation. Rossellini's second film ''Film/{{Paisan}}'' is considered the actual beginning of neorealism, since it had no stars, non-professionals in leading roles, and used even more location shooting than the previous one. The most famous of all Italian neorealist films, and arguably the most famous Italian film was Creator/VittorioDeSica's ''Film/BicycleThieves'' which was a bleak, sad, sentimental and compelling story about how a poor father has his life wrecked when his bicycle, which he depends on for his work, gets stolen.

Italian Neorealism has always been a very confusing and slippery term. Almost all of the original neorealists disavowed it when it was applied to them and their films, at least when it was no longer convenient to use as a label to market their films. Film historians now argue that it pointed the way to a different kind of cinema and inspired possibilities greater than it actually fulfilled. For instance, Italian neorealism inspired independent filmmakers across the world, and was representative of "non-Hollywood" films. In actual fact, the original Italian neorealist films were made with the help of American producers, and was distributed by Hollywood studios. It also came to typify cheap and NoBudget film-making when in fact the original neorealist films were among Italy's most expensive films (''Paisan'' had the record before ''Bicycle Thieves'' broke it), since shooting on location was far more expensive than it was to shoot on sets.

Nonetheless, in the years of its release and afterwards, Italian Neorealism had a huge and defining impact on international cinema, playing a major role in heralding the market for world cinema, for encouraging other countries to fund directors to shoot on the margins and document poor people, and generally offer a less pretty take on society and culture. The likes of Creator/SatyajitRay, Creator/AbbasKiarostami, Creator/LuisBunuel among many others were inspired by Neorealism, and the films were also championed by the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave, British KitchenSinkDrama producers, Creator/JohnCassavetes and many many others. It also influenced Commedia all’italiana.

!!Tropes that typically feature in Italian Neorealism include:
* AmateurCast: Untrained actors and the use of local dialects in films for the sake of realism was common.
* CrapsackWorld: By and large, neorealism was a push-back against the "White Telephone" melodramas of the Fascist period, where all discontent against the state was suppressed and it was not permitted to talk about the social problems in Italy. In neorealism, the heroes are starving and in PerpetualPoverty, those who leave to search for a better life are deluding themselves to think that things could be better, the government either doesn't care or is too incompetent to help those struggling, and the narrative usually implies that this will never change.
* LighterAndSofter: Neorealism started in 1945 when Italia was in ruins. However in the early 1950s when its economic situation perceptibly improved Pink Neorealism shifted the mood of the genre. It became more sentimental and turned to melodrama.
* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Long shots of characters without dialog or action were a common feature of neorealism.
* PerpetualPoverty: Most neorealist film protagonists were either impoverished or were just barely scraping by.
* PlayingAgainstType: When Italian neorealism directors did hire professional actors, they had them play a certain part which differs fundamentally from roles the actor was famous for or had played in the past.
* RealPlaceBackground: Shot extensively on location in dilapidated cities and streets. Rossellini's films were shot in wartorn Italy and he showed the devastation of his buildings with real candour.
* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Cinematic version. Films were frequently made on a shoestring budget in the streets.
* WarIsHell, combined with a mild case of AfterTheEnd following the destruction wrought by UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

[[index]]
!!Notable Neorealist films include:

* ''Film/{{Accattone}}''
* ''Film/BicycleThieves''
* ''Film/BitterRice''
* ''Film/GermanyYearZero''
* ''Film/IVitelloni''
* ''Film/MammaRoma''
* ''Film/MiracleInMilan'' -- a curious mixture of Italian neorealism and urban fantasy
* ''Film/{{Ossessione}}'' (Obsession)
* ''Film/{{Paisan}}''
* ''Film/RomeOpenCity''
* ''Film/LaStrada'' (The Road)
* ''Film/{{Stromboli}}''
* ''Film/LaTerraTrema''
* ''Film/TwoCentsWorthOfHope'' -- a "Pink Neorealism" film, in which the tropes above are applied to romantic comedy
* ''Film/TwoWomen''
* ''Film/UmbertoD''

!!Parodies of Neorealist films include:
* ''Film/TheIcicleThief'' -- a parody of ''Film/BicycleThieves'' and a critique of late-1980s consumer culture.
[[/index]]
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