Masterclass - Pirjo Honkasalo Neorealism and documentaries

“When I was first approaching the world of cinema, documentaries were considered mediocre educational tools to use in schools", explained Honkasalo during the masterclass she held. "There was no concept of documentary as an expressive tool. That’s why Neorealism was so important to me”.

“The truth behind those works is impressive", she added, "more than many other documentaries. The Earth Trembles might have some elements of fiction, but the more the film proceeds the more it becomes a documentary. The story is not important, it is the people in it that make the movie: the way they populate the scenic space, the way they interact. There is so much history behind those bodies, those faces…”

Indeed, in line with the aesthetics of Neorealism, Visconti did not use any professional actors to shoot the movie. All of the characters are portrayed by the local population of Aci Trezza, a dirt-poor fishing village in Sicily. The actors basically played themselves, speaking in their Sicilian dialect in front of the camera (the film is dubbed also in the Italian version) and living out their harsh existences.

“I call these films semi-fiction. The people who appear in them were so representative of their time, of their suffering. Those bodies had a history, a real history behind, before being filmed on camera. Those faces and those bodies don’t exist anymore. As for the themes of the movie, they were so in time and so real. It is fiction, but it documents pure reality. Even if there is a fictional story, that is only an aesthetic tool - as is the lighting, or editing: something to make the film more enjoyable to the viewer”.

In her view, neorealist films could be considered documentaries with a very strong aesthetic. “Very often, when it comes to documentaries, when something looks too good it is looked down on", Honkasalo explained. "When a shot looks too good, because it has very good lighting or a very accurate composition, documentaries are accused of being artificial, fake almost. I strongly disagree with that. Truth is not about bad exposure and shaky camera movements, it is a much deeper issue. Sometimes, as Neorealism did, you can reveal the truth much better through a strong aesthetic than by showing everything just the way it appears in front of your eyes”.

By Marta Musso