What is Cinema?
A critical analysis of Andre Bazin’s “What is Cinema” in reference to Bicycle Thieves
The film Bicycle Thieves, directed by Vittorio De Sica, challenges what it means for a film to be considered cinema. We can contrast early actualities to the modern films of today and see that the style, narrative, and mis-en-scene are extremely different from one another. In “What is Cinema,” Andre Bazin argues that film is considered cinema when it leans more toward realism, but I beg to differ. I believe Andre Bazin get too caught up in trying quantify whether a film is an accurate depiction of neorealism versus answering the question he posed to the article to begin with. What is cinema and can we quantify it? Bicycle Thieves follows the day of main character Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) and his son (Gino Saltamerenda) after the father’s bike is stolen. Ricci and son scavenge the city for the lost bike to no avail in the end. This ending is one of Bazin main arguments in how the film leans more to neorealism. Bazin suggests that concluding the narrative this way the film was able to stick to …show more content…
I believe Bazin could have strengthened his argument by merely staying on topic. He starts the piece with the question “What is Cinema” and by the end of the piece the reader is only left with Bazin’s opinion on what makes a good neorealist film and how he believes that neorealist films make good cinema. Not once did he attribute actual quantifiable evidence to what makes a film considered cinema nor did he include any examples to what is not considered cinema. In my opinion, cinema is not quantifiable nor is it certain. What is considered cinema is based on whomever is reviewing it. Cinema according to Dictionary.com is the production of movies as an art or industry. So without a clear set of criteria, by definition any film can be considered cinema and no one can dispute
A critical analysis of Andre Bazin’s “What is Cinema” in reference to Bicycle Thieves
The film Bicycle Thieves, directed by Vittorio De Sica, challenges what it means for a film to be considered cinema. We can contrast early actualities to the modern films of today and see that the style, narrative, and mis-en-scene are extremely different from one another. In “What is Cinema,” Andre Bazin argues that film is considered cinema when it leans more toward realism, but I beg to differ. I believe Andre Bazin get too caught up in trying quantify whether a film is an accurate depiction of neorealism versus answering the question he posed to the article to begin with. What is cinema and can we quantify it? Bicycle Thieves follows the day of main character Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) and his son (Gino Saltamerenda) after the father’s bike is stolen. Ricci and son scavenge the city for the lost bike to no avail in the end. This ending is one of Bazin main arguments in how the film leans more to neorealism. Bazin suggests that concluding the narrative this way the film was able to stick to …show more content…
I believe Bazin could have strengthened his argument by merely staying on topic. He starts the piece with the question “What is Cinema” and by the end of the piece the reader is only left with Bazin’s opinion on what makes a good neorealist film and how he believes that neorealist films make good cinema. Not once did he attribute actual quantifiable evidence to what makes a film considered cinema nor did he include any examples to what is not considered cinema. In my opinion, cinema is not quantifiable nor is it certain. What is considered cinema is based on whomever is reviewing it. Cinema according to Dictionary.com is the production of movies as an art or industry. So without a clear set of criteria, by definition any film can be considered cinema and no one can dispute