The Camera as a Window to the World
Realist cinema is a style and theory that stands in direct opposition to Formalism. Its primary ambition is to create the illusion of unmediated reality, to act as a transparent window through which the audience can observe the world. Realist filmmakers strive to make their techniques invisible, effacing any sign of their own artistic intervention. The philosophy behind this approach is that the filmmaker’s role is not to construct meaning through stylized techniques, but to record and present the world in a way that allows the viewer to discover meaning for themselves. The emphasis is on the subject matter—often focusing on the everyday lives of ordinary people—and the goal is to achieve a sense of authenticity and verisimilitude.
Theoretical Foundations and Key Techniques
The most influential proponent of cinematic realism was the French critic André Bazin. He argued against the manipulative editing of Soviet Montage, believing that it imposed a single, authorial meaning onto the audience. Instead, he championed techniques that he felt preserved the ambiguity and wholeness of reality:
- The Long Take: Using extended shots without cuts allows events to unfold in real time and space, respecting the duration of an action.
- Deep Focus Cinematography: Keeping both the foreground and background of a shot in sharp focus allows the viewer’s eye to wander the frame and choose what to look at, much as we do in real life. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is a famous example of this technique.
- Minimal Editing: Cuts are used sparingly, primarily for functional purposes rather than for creating symbolic meaning or rhythmic effect.
Major Realist Movements
Throughout film history, several movements have championed the realist ethos:
- Italian Neorealism (1940s): Emerging from the ruins of World War II, films like Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) took to the streets of Rome, using non-professional actors, location shooting, and stories about poverty and social struggle to capture the harsh realities of post-war life.
- Cinéma Vérité and Direct Cinema (1960s): These documentary movements, enabled by the development of lightweight cameras and sync sound, sought to observe life as it happened, with filmmakers acting as a “fly on the wall.”
- The Dardenne Brothers: Contemporary Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are leading modern realists, known for their handheld camerawork and intimate, empathetic portrayals of working-class individuals facing moral crises.
Realism as a Style
It is crucial to understand that realism is itself a style—a set of artistic conventions designed to produce the effect of reality. The filmmaker still makes countless choices: where to place the camera, what to include in the frame, and which moments to record. Realist cinema does not present pure, unvarnished reality; rather, it skillfully uses its techniques to create a powerful and convincing illusion of it.