IS CINEMA A FORM OF ART?

Cinema is considered one of the greatest inventions. 
Any other form of representation can’t have the same direct and immediate capacity to render reality. The communication it manages to establish between author and spectator is profound and complete.                                  
There are several means of communication, but one of the most effective is still the cinema. It is the most popular form of entertainment, even if today it is suffering the very strong competition of television.                                    
The audience wants the film to break the monotony of everyday life, looking for a story that offers something different from what common life offers.  The audience is looking for an imaginary reality that is not the one we live, but the one we would like to live.                                                 
For the majority of people, cinema is just a pursuit of fun and escape from everyday life; a small audience instead, has the desire to know a new reality, to deepen the knowledge of things and people.

I have often heard saying that the cinema is in the hands of men without talent, who only care about making money and therefore offer the public only vulgar and banal shows.   The accusation is only partly true, but there is a fundamental clarification: cinema offers the audience what they want, so it is the audience’s taste that determines the level of production.                                       
Therefore, it is easy to see in the cinema themes that lack an educational and moral value, but it can happen to see films that propose aspects and problems of our time. Authors, directors and film producers aim at different goals, from offering a few hours of noncommittal escapism to offering the audience the opportunity to enjoy a good time. Each film is part of the history of the period and society that produced it, becoming cultural and historical heritage. Sometimes, a film brings to the screen important issues that make the viewer reflect, recognise situations and identify with them.      One thing is certain, if cinema is able to express itself with its means and its language of ‘feelings’, communicate messages and reach everyone, it is certainly a form of art.