Bicycle ThievesIn a world where thieves prosper, the only crime is getting caught. Set in post-World War II Rome, Bicycle Thieves is about a man named Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), who gets a job for the city hanging up movie posters, which requires the use of a bicycle. When his bicycle is stolen on his first day of work, Antonio desperately searches high and low for it with his son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola). Antonio grows increasingly more distraught as their fruitless quest across the city continues, feeling crushed under the weight of his dread while his moral compass begins to spin out of control.
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Bicycle Thieves is often cited as the quintessential film of the Italian neorealism movement, which predominantly depicts people in abject poverty and social unease after World War II--including director Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. Rome becomes a city of paradoxes; civilized men charge the employment office, waiting with baited breath for a job to come their way, as the metropolitan facades of the centuries-old city look on with impassiveness, scarred from war and littered with detritus. When the employment officer calls Antonio's name, the look on Antonio's face makes it look like he's experienced a miracle--in this grim period in Italy where the only thriving businesses are pawn shops, it essentially is one. Antonio is so enthusiastic about his new job--gluing new posters of Rita Hayworth over old advertisements--that he already begins plotting out how much money he can expect to make in a year. Antonio seems overly focused on his finances, but it goes unsaid that Antonio and his family were not as destitute in years past as they are now; like many others, they have suffered in the aftermath of the war, and are well aware of what life used to be like. Bruno likely used to go to school, but now works all day at a gas station--a tragic state of affairs for a young boy. Antonio finds any taste of how things used to be is a blessing. Consider when he begins to doubt that he will ever recover the stolen bicycle and he takes Bruno to a restaurant, where he orders mozzarella sandwiches with a full bottle of wine. This is an ill-timed indulgence, but it is necessary for Antonio to "come up for air" and enjoy life as civilized people used to through a simple meal, before poverty dictated what he could and couldn't do. Antonio has put all of his hopes on his new job, and the bicycle is essential to make his dreams come true. When he tells his wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), that he has a new job, but one that would require reclaiming his bicycle from the pawn shop, she pawns their bed sheets to get the bike out of hock. The financial bind that the Riccis are in is by no means exceptional for Rome, if the staggeringly high ceilings filled with goods at the pawn shop is any indication. When Antonio's sole salvation for his family's welfare is snatched away from him in broad daylight, it becomes a profound wound not just to his finances but to his self-worth. Antonio gets no help from the indifferent, bureaucratic police, who all but tells him to find it himself--they might as well have told him to find a needle in a haystack.
Antonio's crisis inflames his already frayed nerves, making it harder to cope with each fruitless lead to find his purloined bicycle. An actor named Baiocco (Gino Saltamerenda) offers to help him search the marketplaces for a bicycle that matches the serial number of the one he reported. He finds one that has the same kind of Fides frame, but is made to feel like he is a criminal for inconveniencing a surly retailer when he concludes it's not his. Antonio encounters resistance and even abuse in his search, compounding his despair and misery. He catches sight of someone who might have been the thief talking to an old beggar (Carlo Jachino), so Antonio believes that the elderly man can lead him to his bike, and accosts him all the way into a church, before losing him at Mass. This is when Antonio's composure starts to crumple; he loses his patience with Bruno shortly after and slaps him, leading to Bruno wandering off. After he realizes his mistake, he panics when he overhears of a boy who has just fallen into the river, who might have been his son. Antonio and Bruno stumble across a young man named Alfredo Catelli (Vittorio Antonucci), who Antonio is convinced was the same thief who stole his bicycle. Alfredo acts suspicious from the start--ducking down a side street and fleeing after making eye contact with Antonio; he has the added benefit of being a sleazy, obnoxious liar. Antonio makes the mistake of pursuing him into his neighborhood, prompting the other residents to emerge from their homes like a flash mob--reinforcements for Alfredo. Antonio is berated and intimidated by the sudden flock of spurious thugs, until Bruno returns with a police officer. Because Antonio is so desperate and exhausted from his harrowing search, he cannot definitively say whether Alfredo stole his bike, or that he wanted to believe he did so that his quest would not be in vain. His search has become more than just for a bicycle--it is for some semblance of justice in an increasingly unjust world; its futility has strained his moral character, evidenced in the ironic climax. Antonio and Bruno hang their heads while sitting on the curb outside of a stadium packed with fans watching a soccer game. Antonio's eyes pan over to a mass of unattended bicycles, in a moment mixing temptation and derision, culminating with a lonesome bicycle left unattended outside of a building. Antonio weighs his justifications for and against stealing it while Bruno looks on, because fathers are the representatives for how sons should live their lives--either in a good and honorable way, or as a crook in a crooked world.
It is easy to interpret Bicycle Thieves as a story about a man ground down and driven to commit a crime because he has been a victim. Yet there are moments that suggest that people like Antonio--and his wife, Maria--are predisposed to entitlement and deceit when it suits their needs; this seems true with nearly everyone in the movie, except for the child Bruno. When Antonio is told that he would need a bicycle for the new job, he mentions he doesn't have one at the moment, prompting a couple of other eager, unemployed workers to beg for the opportunity. Suddenly Antonio does have a bicycle, essentially depriving one of those men of the same chance. Despite the scope of it, Antonio lies to get something for himself and his family, regardless of the welfare of others. When Maria sells her linens, she tells the pawn broker that they were a "dowry". There's no way for the audience of Bicycle Thieves to know whether this is true or not, but she manages to talk the clerk into giving them an extra five-hundred lira because of it. Are these lies justified because they enrich the lives of the needy, or do they speak to an inherent problem of a society that justifies lying because everybody does it? Lying in its myriad forms is the theme at the heart of Bicycle Thieves, felt in virtually every interaction Antonio has in his doomed search for his property. He is met with everything from deflected questions, evasive replies, and outright obfuscation of the truth. Reasonable people wouldn't be adverse to answering Antonio's queries about the location of his bicycle or the thief who took it, but all he gets is hostility or trepidation at every turn--from the bicycle shop clerk, the beggar, and especially in the alley where he is harangued by Alfredo's neighbors. The moment of revelation in Bicycle Thieves comes after Antonio has become a thief himself and is surprisingly shown mercy after being apprehended by his victim. Antonio has lost his bicycle--and no doubt the job he desperately fought to keep; but if there is any silver lining in those clouds that have consistently darkened Antonio's days, it is the blessing of mercy--the best lesson he and his son can take away from this dark time in their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about the desperation that can overtake someone when what little they have is taken away, exposing feelings of powerlessness and insignificance. Bicycle Thieves is a cornerstone of classic realist cinema whose influence can be felt today in works ranging from the Safdie brothers' movie, Good Time, to television shows like "Breaking Bad".
Antonio's crisis inflames his already frayed nerves, making it harder to cope with each fruitless lead to find his purloined bicycle. An actor named Baiocco (Gino Saltamerenda) offers to help him search the marketplaces for a bicycle that matches the serial number of the one he reported. He finds one that has the same kind of Fides frame, but is made to feel like he is a criminal for inconveniencing a surly retailer when he concludes it's not his. Antonio encounters resistance and even abuse in his search, compounding his despair and misery. He catches sight of someone who might have been the thief talking to an old beggar (Carlo Jachino), so Antonio believes that the elderly man can lead him to his bike, and accosts him all the way into a church, before losing him at Mass. This is when Antonio's composure starts to crumple; he loses his patience with Bruno shortly after and slaps him, leading to Bruno wandering off. After he realizes his mistake, he panics when he overhears of a boy who has just fallen into the river, who might have been his son. Antonio and Bruno stumble across a young man named Alfredo Catelli (Vittorio Antonucci), who Antonio is convinced was the same thief who stole his bicycle. Alfredo acts suspicious from the start--ducking down a side street and fleeing after making eye contact with Antonio; he has the added benefit of being a sleazy, obnoxious liar. Antonio makes the mistake of pursuing him into his neighborhood, prompting the other residents to emerge from their homes like a flash mob--reinforcements for Alfredo. Antonio is berated and intimidated by the sudden flock of spurious thugs, until Bruno returns with a police officer. Because Antonio is so desperate and exhausted from his harrowing search, he cannot definitively say whether Alfredo stole his bike, or that he wanted to believe he did so that his quest would not be in vain. His search has become more than just for a bicycle--it is for some semblance of justice in an increasingly unjust world; its futility has strained his moral character, evidenced in the ironic climax. Antonio and Bruno hang their heads while sitting on the curb outside of a stadium packed with fans watching a soccer game. Antonio's eyes pan over to a mass of unattended bicycles, in a moment mixing temptation and derision, culminating with a lonesome bicycle left unattended outside of a building. Antonio weighs his justifications for and against stealing it while Bruno looks on, because fathers are the representatives for how sons should live their lives--either in a good and honorable way, or as a crook in a crooked world.
It is easy to interpret Bicycle Thieves as a story about a man ground down and driven to commit a crime because he has been a victim. Yet there are moments that suggest that people like Antonio--and his wife, Maria--are predisposed to entitlement and deceit when it suits their needs; this seems true with nearly everyone in the movie, except for the child Bruno. When Antonio is told that he would need a bicycle for the new job, he mentions he doesn't have one at the moment, prompting a couple of other eager, unemployed workers to beg for the opportunity. Suddenly Antonio does have a bicycle, essentially depriving one of those men of the same chance. Despite the scope of it, Antonio lies to get something for himself and his family, regardless of the welfare of others. When Maria sells her linens, she tells the pawn broker that they were a "dowry". There's no way for the audience of Bicycle Thieves to know whether this is true or not, but she manages to talk the clerk into giving them an extra five-hundred lira because of it. Are these lies justified because they enrich the lives of the needy, or do they speak to an inherent problem of a society that justifies lying because everybody does it? Lying in its myriad forms is the theme at the heart of Bicycle Thieves, felt in virtually every interaction Antonio has in his doomed search for his property. He is met with everything from deflected questions, evasive replies, and outright obfuscation of the truth. Reasonable people wouldn't be adverse to answering Antonio's queries about the location of his bicycle or the thief who took it, but all he gets is hostility or trepidation at every turn--from the bicycle shop clerk, the beggar, and especially in the alley where he is harangued by Alfredo's neighbors. The moment of revelation in Bicycle Thieves comes after Antonio has become a thief himself and is surprisingly shown mercy after being apprehended by his victim. Antonio has lost his bicycle--and no doubt the job he desperately fought to keep; but if there is any silver lining in those clouds that have consistently darkened Antonio's days, it is the blessing of mercy--the best lesson he and his son can take away from this dark time in their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about the desperation that can overtake someone when what little they have is taken away, exposing feelings of powerlessness and insignificance. Bicycle Thieves is a cornerstone of classic realist cinema whose influence can be felt today in works ranging from the Safdie brothers' movie, Good Time, to television shows like "Breaking Bad".