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Beyond Neorealism : Sicily in Vittorio De Seta's documentaries

From 1954 to 1959 De Seta shot seven documentaries in Sicily, two in Sardinia and one in Calabria. De Seta was familiar with the works of the directors belonging to the “De Martinian school of ethnographic documentary” but he was much more influenced by Flaherty, neorealism and Cesare Zavattini. His ten documentaries can be seen as a follow up of Visconti’s never realized film trilogy about sea, earth and mines of which La terra trema was the first part. The topics are: fishermen (Lu tempu di li pisci spata, Contadini del mare, Pescherecci), miners (Surfarara, Isole di fuoco), farmers and rites (Parabola d’oro, Pastori di Orgosolo, Un giorno in Barbagia, I dimenticati, Pasqua in Sicilia). Unlike Visconti, De Seta avoids voice-of-God narration and stresses the visual and symbolic potential of the image. Just like Flaherty, he does not focus on individuals but on the whole community. Narrative structure of De Seta’s documentaries reflects perfectly the natural order of the daily activities he shoots: they start in the morning and finish at sunset just like any ordinary day. The rhythm of the films is dictated by the work of the community: calm night comes after an exhausting day that is full of intense activities followed by moments of contemplation or rest. His movies share many stylistic and thematic tendencies with post war cinema but they go beyond Neorealism and represent unknown parts of Italy, avoiding self-exoticism and clichés.

Vittorio De Seta ; Sicily on Screen ; Italian neorealist cinema ; Cesare Zavattini

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