famine and hardship

His films like 'Accattone' and 'Mamma Roma' unflinchingly depict the grinding poverty and desperation of Rome's underclass with raw neorealist intensity.

His sprawling meditation on medieval Russia in 'Andrei Rublev' captures suffering, scarcity, and spiritual endurance during times of cultural and material deprivation.

His socially conscious films like 'Kes' and 'I, Daniel Blake' expose systemic poverty, hardship, and the struggle for survival in contemporary society with compassionate realism.