Bicycle Thieves and Broken Blossums

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Bicycle Thieves deals with neorealism which was popular after WWII in Italy. The lighting, shots, settings, and angles are all natural to the human eye. Typical components of neorealistic films are to have unknown or nonprofessional actors, real settings, realistic situations and dialog, etc. The occurrences and detailed events in the film portray an ordinary lifestyle which many can relate to. For example, the scene when Bruno is about to go to the bathroom on the streets is a realistic situation that is bound to happen sometime along their journey. The scenes when Bruno falls down in the mud in the rain and when he almost gets hit by the two cars are also real situation, meaning it just accidentally happened. Although these occurrences are irrelevant to the story itself, it creates a real scenario and mood. There are also many scenes that not only convey realism but emotions can be felt from the characters. The viewers feel even more sorrow for the father Antonio because Bruno, an innocent child, is tagging along with him in search of his bicycle. In the end, after the father gets slapped, and then released, he and his son disappear into the crowd of people facing their back towards the camera as the viewers feel more pity, sympathy and a little bit of shame for them. The little aesthetic details that appear in the film help create a sense of realism and true emotion. After all, having your precious bicycle stolen can happen to anyone at anytime. Although the acting and the visual aesthetics in the film, Broken Blossoms seem over exaggerated and unrealistic, the filmmakers had made an attempt to make it realistic looking. The tinting method was extremely expensive and rare technique at the time, but it is creatively and successfully done by changing the color according to its scenery. For example, the scenes at night would be tinted in blue, indoors would be

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