1. The origin of Italian Neo-Realism is in Italy when Mussolini got Italy under his thumbs. After WWII, Mussolini was Facist leader and it was a totalitarian government. The films of Italy show America has a paradise of the world and it shows that everyone want to live in it. It portray Americans lives as peaceful. People were shown the glories of their Roman past. The movie of Italy doesn't want to show Fascism and promote Socialism.
2. The American influences them because they used some of the idea from American films to create another movie, like film techniques, high angle, low angle, and a lot of other stuffd.