Hello everyone and welcome to our video series, "A Timeline of World Cinema"
I'm Bradley Weatherholt and I will be your host on this journey through the history of film.
In this episode we will discuss the Foreign New Wave: the international movement that
forever changed the world of cinema.
The Foreign New Wave brought a new attention to cinema as art and also as a form of national expression.
The variety and multitude of foreign cinema at this time makes it very difficult to define
and even distinguish it from the main stream Hollywood films of that time.
One thing is certain, though: the movement arose in response to Hollywood's dominance
and the devastation of post World War II.
After the war, European countries instituted protectionist policies to defend their film programs.
On the surface, these policies were introduced for economic reasons.
However, many believe that the measures were made to deter the American influence at that time.
American troops still benevolently occupied Europe, leading to a widespread fear that
America was trying to colonize the European subconscious.
Unlike America, the impact of television hadn't fully taken place in Europe.
The Box Office went unchallenged as the primary visual entertainment.
Cinema absorbed culture.
Cinema magazines, which published articles on the movement, began to circulate rapidly.
The Italian magazine, "Cinema," was one of the early pioneering publications.
The magazine began chronicling Italian Neorealism, a movement rising from the ruins of Fascism.
An interesting piece of irony: the magazine, "Cinema," which chronicled the Italian movement,
Post-Fascism, was edited by Vittorio Mussolini, son of "Il Duce" himself, Benito Mussolini.
When Roberto Rossellini's "Rome, Open City" won the grand prize at Cannes, the international
film community began to realize Italian Neorealism.
In 1948, Vittorio De Sica released bicycle thieves, perhaps the most significant Neorealist picture.
The film was the culmination of the entire movement and at the same time signals the
beginning to its end.
The economic realities of the time demanded that Italian pictures be produced in collaboration
with other national studios.
Italian filmmaker, Federico Fellini embraced this collaboration, producing "La Dolce Vita"
with the help of French studio Pathe.
The film is a landmark in the battle against censorship, providing the best case that the
Neorealist movement had ended.
The Foreign Wave shifted away from Italy and moved to its neighbor, France.
At the forefront of the French New Wave was the film journal, "Cahiers du Cinéma."
The magazine featured articles from critical cinematic figures, like Jean Luc Godard and
François Truffaut.
The leader of the magazine, and perhaps the movement as a whole, was its cofounder, André
Without question, André Bazin was the most influential thinker of his time.
He provided a theoretical framework for film, which we still employ today.
In his essays, featured in "Cahiers," he revolutionized the way cinema was viewed, focusing on what
he called the "objective reality" of cinema.
He argued against the contemporary cinema of manipulation.
Instead, he favored objective cinema, the use of "mise-en-scène," deep focus, and wide
angle shots.
Of all his innovations, his theory of "auteur" stands alone, marking perhaps the largest
theoretical breakthrough in the history of cinema.
Through the auteur theory, Bazin argued that the director, by means of his personality
and preference, was the primary "auteur" or author of the film.
The impact resonated throughout the entire world.
Because of this, Bazin is one of the greatest minds of cinematic history.
As Jean Renoir stated in "What is Cinema," a collection of Bazin's essays, "His writings
will survive, even if cinema does not."
With the backing of Bazin, Europe led the world of cinema.
Two French directors, François Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard, were ahead of this movement.
Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" and Godard's "Breathless" provide a turning point for filmmaking.
They both involve open-ended stories, revolving around existential questions of purpose.
Directors, particularly Godard, pioneered jump cuts like these to illustrate the passage
of time.
But it would be disingenuous to paint the movement as something taking completely outside
of the United States.
In fact, some of the most revered directors of that time came from the United States.
Bazin argued that Orson Wells was one of the greatest minds in all of cinema.
Wells' "Citizen Kane" particularly favored Bazin's love of objective filmmaking.
American director, Nicholas Ray, known for films such as "Rebel Without a Cause" was
so influential to the New Way, Jean Luc Godard stated, "Cinema is Nicholas Ray."
Finally, most of the major figures of the time perpetuated the notion that American
director, Charley Chaplin, would likely be remembered as the greatest filmmaker of all time.
"Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!"
The filmmakers of France and the United States inspired each other, but there was another
country reviving from the ashes of World World II, which also influenced the global scene
at the time.
Japanese cinema, particularly in the 1950s, flourished.
With the film, "Rashomon," Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, and acting legend, Toshiro
Mifune, introduced the world to a completely new method of filmmaking.
With the help of cinematographer, Kazuo Miyagawa, Kurosawa experimented with the camera, famously
shooting directly into the sun.
Since the camera would not pick up the simulated rain, pumped through water hoses, the crew
added black ink to the water to show up on the film.
Innovations such as these show the unique method of Japanese filmmaking.
Another filmmaker, Yasujirō Ozu, defined his own version of Japanese cinema.
Ozu mostly used a static camera and, unlike Hollywood, he filmed dialogue above the eye
line and directly, not over the shoulder.
In 1953, Ozu released his masterpiece, "Tokyo Story."
A year later, Akira Kurosawa released "Seven Samurai," his magnum opus.
"Seven Samurai" is ranked as one of the greatest Japanese films ever made.
The film involves the recruitment of seven samurai by a modest village extorted by a
band of marauders.
For various reasons, warriors of different style and psychology are enlisted by the first
of the recruits, the noble ronin Kambei.
The film's protagonist, played by the legendary Toshiro Mifune, is Kikuchiyo, a moody prankster.
His sympathy for the villagers matures as he evolves into a great samurai.
The role of Kikuchiyo as reluctant hero has been repeated countless times.
More than just one character, the entire film is frequently immulated .
Wester film, "The Magnificent Seven," is a direct remaining of the film. After all, cowboys
are to west as samurai are to the east.
"Seven Samurai" would ultimately become a favorite of a new generation of filmmakers
in Hollywood.
George Lucas admitted to deliberately pacing Star Wars with Seven Samurai in mind.
Like "Star Wars," "Seven Samurai" accomplishes something few films can: it serves not only
as an action-packed piece of entertainment, but also a sophisticated work of art.
The film cemented Akira Kurosawa as one of cinema's greats.
Steven Spielberg himself stated he learned more from Kurosawa than any other filmmaker.
If Kurosawa is a great teacher, then "Seven Samurai" is his greatest lecture.
While far from muted, the American cinema certainly waned during this period, leading
many studio producers to begrudgingly comment on the movement.
Such as Billy Wilder, the revered studio director, who jokingly advised to shoot a few scenes
out of focus, since he wanted to win a foreign film award.
However, Hollywood often proves a difficult beast to tame and in the decades following
the Foreign New Wave, Hollywood struck back with a new class of directors, who would ultimately
create the blockbuster and forever changed the world of cinema.
We'll discuss these directors in the next episode, "New Hollywood."