Not exactly anti-fascist

Italian neorealism is often classified to be in direct opposition to fascism. As I have shown, this characterization proves true to a certain extent. Italian neorealism obviously responded to the the fascist regime's censorship on filmmaking as well as the "stylisation, heroic rhetoric, and literary tedium" of the fascist era. Many neorealist filmmakers were openly anti-fascist. But it is important to note the influence fascism had on the Italian film industry that undoubtedly influenced the development and magnitude of Italian neorealism. Fascism's focus on the domestic film industry strengthened and expanded it, allowing for Italian neorealism to be more accessible to both filmmakers and audiences. Many neorealist filmmakers even worked within the film industry structures established under the fascist regime (180). Additionally, Italian neorealism did not solely respond to the conservative measures of the fascist regime, but also to the political, economic, and cultural unstableness after the war. Although the Italian neorealist films often confronted the hypocrisies of fascism, the postwar Italian government and the Catholic Church also took offense to some of the material in the films. The Bicycle Thief was temporarily taken out of circulation at the request of both institutions. Both the Church and the government did not appreciate the helpless role they were conceived to play in the film and did not support the portrayal of Italians in hopeless poverty and without "human dignity."  Italian neorealism confronted the conservatism and the propaganda tools of the fascist regime, but the influence of fascism on the development of Italian neorealism cannot be denied.