Highest-Rated Movies about 'Neorealism'

The Wide Blue Road (1956), The Exiles (1961), Aparajito (1956), The Bicycle Thief (1948), The Nights of Cabiria (1957), Shoeshine (1946), Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), La Dolce Vita (1960) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Neorealism movies.

#16. Two Women (1960)

Storyline: Cesira is a beautiful widow and a successful grocery store owner in Rome. WWII is raging, and she fears for her beloved daughter, 13-year-old Rosetta, amid the daily bombings. They travel to the village where Cesira was born, where Cesira believes they will be safer. There, they are happy even as food dwindles. A young intellectual, Michele, falls in love with Cesira, who is too consumed with the well-being of her daughter and their survival to return his timid advances. As the allies advance, Cesira decides to return to Rome - and encounter the horrors of war at last.—jcravens42@yahoo.com

Plot Keywords: war, world war ii, italy, women, survival, trauma, black and white ...

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#18. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Storyline: Along a rocky, barren coastline, Jesus begins teaching, primarily using parables. He attracts disciples; he's stern, brusque, and demanding. He comes to bring a sword, not peace, he says. He's in a hurry, moving from place to place near the Sea of Galilee, sometimes attracting a multitude, sometimes being driven away. His parables often take on the powers that be, so he and his teachings come to the attention of the Pharisees, the chief priests, and elders. They conspire to have him arrested, beaten, tried, and crucified, just as he prophesied to his followers. After he dies, he appears to his disciples and gives them final instructions.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: religion, bible, italian cinema, black and white, biographical, historical, classic ...

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#19. Bitter Rice (1949)

Storyline: Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.—Laura Ernestina Ruberto <lruberto@ucsd.edu>

Plot Keywords: italian cinema, rural life, class conflict, female protagonist, labor exploitation, social criticism, poverty ...

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#21. Death of a Cyclist (1955)

Storyline: Juan is an academic, his career stalled, teaching at the university because of his brother-in-law's prestige. María José is a socialite, married to wealth, bored but attached to her comforts. The two are lovers. On an isolated country road, their car strikes a cyclist; fearing exposure, they leave him to die. Distracted, Juan unjustly fails a student. Rafa, a bitter savant in their social circle, hints that he knows something, and he threatens to expose them to María José's husband, Miguel. Miguel's pride may be the lovers' best hope. Then Juan proposes a solution.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: film noir, drama, social critique, moral dilemma, 1950s, class conflict, crime ...

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#22. Girl With a Suitcase (1961)

Storyline: Lorenzo, who's 16 and born to a wealthy family in Parma, tries to make things right toward a showgirl, Aida, whom his older brother has mistreated. In extending kindness and standing up for her, he comes of age. But, is there anything he can do that will alter Aida's situation or her prospects?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: italian cinema, drama, female protagonist, coming of age, social criticism, 1960s, black and white ...

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#23. L'Amore (1948)

Storyline: In the first of two separate tales, an Italian woman (Anna Magnani) desperate to reconcile with her ex-husband, pours out her feelings to him in an emotional phone conversation. In the second, a volatile peasant (also Magnani) in a small village believes a vagrant (Federico Fellini) is Saint Joseph. After the woman speaks with him, he offers her wine, and later she passes out. Weeks later, discovering she's pregnant, the woman tells the scoffing villagers that she is carrying the Christ child.

Plot Keywords: love, drama, italian cinema, black and white, female protagonist, poverty, urban life ...

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#24. Stromboli (1950)

Storyline: Living in an Italian refugee camp in 1948, the beautiful Karin meets Antonio, a resident of the men's camp. Though not in love with him, Karin marries him and they soon head for his home village, Stromboli. The village is on a remote island at the foot of an active volcano. When they arrive Karin despairs of the barren land and the absence of people, as many have left, mostly for the United States. She doesn't speak the local dialect and is treated with disdain by locals who see her as an exotic foreigner and a loose woman. After Antonio beats her and locks her in their house, she sets off across the mountains to seek her freedom and a better future.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: drama, romance, war, immigration, survival, loneliness, cultural conflict ...

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#25. Killer of Sheep (1977)

Storyline: Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against influences which would dishonor and endanger him and his family.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: independent film, realism, working class, los angeles, social commentary, everyday life, poetic ...

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#26. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)

Storyline: Three different stories of Italian social mores are presented. In "Adelina", unemployed Carmine Sbaratti and his wife Adelina Sbaratti survive through Adelina selling black market cigarettes on the street. They are unable to pay for the furniture they bought (which is under Adelina's name), but are able to avoid the bailiff when he comes for the money or to repossess. They come up with a longer term solution to avoid Adelina being prosecuted for non-payment, but that solution has a profound effect on the family, especially Carmine. In "Anna", Anna Molteni, the spoiled wife of a successful businessman, and an artist named Renzo are on the cusp of an affair. Anna is feeling neglected in the marriage, as her husband seems more concerned about success and money than her. But a car accident shows both Anna and Renzo if an affair with each other is really what they want. In "Mara", Mara is a prostitute who works out of her apartment. She befriends Umberto, a young man visiting his grandparents who live in the adjacent apartment, the balconies of the two apartments which are adjoined. Umberto, a seminary student, seems to be attracted to Mara as a woman without really knowing what she does. Umberto's grandmother, who knows what Mara does, believes Umberto's seeming romantic infatuation with Mara will be his downfall. As Mara and Umberto's grandmother ultimately join forces to get Umberto to do the right thing in life, Augusto Rusconi, one of Mara's regular clients who is in town from Bologna, does whatever he can to get Umberto's family issues out of the way so that he can get on with his own wants with Mara.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, romance, italian cinema, classic, black comedy, social satire ...

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#27. A Brief Vacation (1975)

Storyline: A women lives a miserable life in the basement of her Milan apartment, with her boring inlaws and three children (boys). Her husband has been injured. Her bleak life takes an unexpected turn when she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and has to go to a sanatorium in the Italian Alps. At the medical clinic in Milan she meets young mechanic with the similar health problems. At the sanatorium she meets again the same man and they start a passionate love affair. All good things must come to an end. When she is cured, she has to return to that rathole from which she only briefly emerged.—marty gottlieb <anangke@erols.com>, prokurator@gmail.com

Plot Keywords: drama, italian cinema, social issues, working class, female protagonist, illness, self-discovery ...

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#28. A Ciambra (2017)

Storyline: In A CIAMBRA, a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the region's factions - the local Italians, the African refugees and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong, Pio sets out to prove he's ready to step into his big brother's shoes but soon finds himself faced with an impossible decision that will show if he is truly ready to become a man.—G

Plot Keywords: italian cinema, coming of age, poverty, family drama, social issues, crime, adolescence ...

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#29. La Viaccia (1962)

Storyline: The original Italian is La Viaccia (the name of the family farm which motivates the plot). The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle. Son Ferdinando buys out his other relatives in order to gain full control over the dead man's property. But Ferdinando's nephew Amerigo holds out. Amerigo's stance is weakened when he heads for Florence and meets prostitute Bianca.

Plot Keywords: italian cinema, rural life, father-son relationship, inheritance dispute, love story, class conflict, moral dilemma ...

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#30. A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Storyline: Two drifters meet and soon become travelling companions. But one of them, Tim (Gemma), is being chased by a crazed killer and his band of gunmen to settle an old score. The two (Adore being the other) are chased through the west, encountering scrape after scrape until the killers catch up and the score is settled for good.

Plot Keywords: adventure, drama, family, coming of age, rural, italian, 1960s ...

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