12/30/2023 0 Comments Bicycle thief movie![]() After having searched for a few days, Ricci takes Bruno to a café and says to him, “Let’s forget everything and get drunk!” (now keep in mind, Bruno is something like 7 or 8 years-old you’ve got to love Italy). He becomes upset and gets mad at his father for not having the pawnshop fix the damage.īruno joins his father on his crusade to find his bicycle as they scour the city. There is a wonderful scene when Ricci first brings home his bike and Bruno looks it over and notices a dent in it. Bruno, though young, acts like a man of 4 or 5 times his age, and seems to have a great understanding of society. One of the pervading themes of the film is the relationship between Ricci and his son, Bruno ( Enzo Staiola). Ricci chases after him yelling, “Al ladro! Al ladro!” (Stop thief! Stop thief!). During his first day on the job, as he is hanging a poster, a man comes up and steals his bike. So Ricci and his wife Maria ( Lianella Carell) sell off much of the little they own to buy his bike back (he had to pawn it off so they could afford to eat). The job is hanging posters and requires that the workers have bicycles. With regards to the subtitles, the actors do such a brilliant job that you don’t even need to read them to understand what they’re saying.Īt the beginning of the film, Ricci is offered a job (something that was extremely hard to come by in Italy at this time). The way the language is spoken dovetails so perfectly with the mood of the film in a way I’m not sure English could. The Italian language is, in a word, beautiful. The Bicycle Thief is the film that completely turned my opinion around, enough so that I went out and bought 8 other foreign films the next day! In fact, I think every one of the “cons” to foreign films I mentioned was dispelled (except reading subtitles… I still don’t like that). ![]() If you haven’t already figured this out, this Italian film is in… you guessed it: Italian! To anyone who refuses to watch foreign films because a.) they aren’t in English b.) American actors are better c.) you don’t like reading subtitles I have this to say: I felt the exact same way. However, this film is done so brilliantly that this plot becomes not just interesting but compelling. Now for many (and I’ll level with you, this would include me), this does not sound like it would make a great film. ![]() The plot for The Bicycle Thief is simple (characteristic of NFs (I’m using “NFs” as an abbreviation for Neorealist Films so I don’t have to write that whole thing out…)): a poor man is offered a job that requires him to have a bicycle his bicycle is stolen, and he must get it back to keep his job. The same goes for the vast majority of the cast, not just in this film, but also in the films of this neorealist movement. The main character, Antonio Ricci, was played by a factory worker ( Lamberto Maggiorani), not an actor. The Bicycle Thief is a perfect example of this. Directors like de Sica wanted instead to portray “real” life with “real” people. The neorealist movement, in its most basic definition, was a response to the huge productions being manufactured in Hollywood during WWII. I’m not generally one to use terms like this, but it’s essential to truly understand this film’s significance. Neorealist… It sounds like a word reserved for British octogenarians with waxed moustaches, smoking jackets, and big cigars, and in all honestly it probably is. The film, Ladri di Biciclette (1948), or as it is more commonly referred to, The Bicycle Thief, was directed by Vittorio De Sica and is often attributed for starting the neorealist movement in Italian cinema. Antonio Ricci: There’s a cure for everything except death. ![]()
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