ken loach and neorealism

953 Words4 Pages
I choose to base my essay on the Italian Neorealism because it was one of the most important ways of making films in the post second world war period. It influenced the style and form of movies all around the world, introducing new techniques, issues and themes; as Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell argue: The most important filmmaking trend of the post WW2 era appeared in Italy during the years 1945-1951.Neorealism was not as original or as unified a movement as once we thought, but it did create a distinct approach to fictional film-making. Moreover, this approach had an enormous impact on cinema in other countries. My other main subject of study, Ken Loach, is considered one of the most important British directors, because of his intensely personal way of making movies that is unique not only in British cinema but in cinema throughout the rest of the world. The director from Nuneaton is well known for the social content of his movies sustained with a real-life style. Ken Loach is the world’s leading social-realist film-maker and Britain’s most successful director working today. Taking his lead from Brecht and Joan Littlewood, he wanted to make drama in the everyday language of the working class and allow dialogue to be uttered in the actors’ own words. My aims are to underline a possible link between these two subjects, to understand if themes and aesthetics techniques used in the Italian are evident in the work of Ken Loach, and if so, in what ways these influences appear in Loach’s films. Italian Neorealism is considered important because it was the first way of making movies that used new techniques and mixed them with classical styles: for example many scenes were filmed in real settings, the use of non professional actors (at lest in non-leading role) was very common, and the underlining of personal dramas and social problems was at the centre of
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