The view from Warsaw: Italian neorealism in Stalinist-era Poland.

This article examines the reception and ideological manipulation of Italian neorealist films in Stalinist-era Poland (1945–53), focusing on Polish reviews of Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) and La terra trema (The Earth Trembles), both shown in 1951. Italian neorealism was portrayed by Polish state-controlled critics as a form of "critical realism" or "small realism" that depicted capitalist societies negatively but lacked the optimistic, class-struggle-oriented solutions required by Socialist Realism, the officially sanctioned Soviet-influenced artistic doctrine. Reviews often emphasized the films’ pessimism, naturalism, and formalism as ideological shortcomings, framing them as documents exposing capitalist exploitation while contrasting them with the purportedly superior socialist system. Catholic press reviews were less ideologically driven, focusing more on artistic qualities, but the dominant narrative in official media used these films to reinforce propaganda against Western capitalism.