BICYCLE THIEVES - One of De Sica's Masterpieces

Released in November, 1948 Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette) was one of the few films that began the Italian Neorealist movement. The film is set up in postwar Italy, paralyzed by poverty and unemployment.

The film opens with a scene of a crowd where several desperate men were asking for available jobs, while the guy announcing the vacancies was failing to control the turmoil. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani)is thrilled that he has finally been offered a job but at the same time is cursing his fate to have landed with one that requires the bicycle which he had already pawned. The job was so important that his wife Maria (Lianella Carell) had to pawn all their cotton and linen sheets to redeem the bicycle.

This is when we encounter one of the most brilliant scenes of the film. When Ricci is waiting for his bicycle he sees a man with a bundle of sheets just like his, climbing up this unending wall of shelves with thousands of other sheets. The scene is a direct representation of the situation the country was in after the war.

While returning Maria goes to thank the "Wise Woman", who predicted that Ricci would get a job. Meanwhile Ricci, who is impatiently waiting downstairs, leaves his bicycle and goes in to see what was keeping her. De Sica is teasing the audience here. He knows that the viewers are waiting for the moment, but the bike is still there.

 

This is when Bruno (Enzo Staiola), Ricci's little son is introduced. He is a stout-hearted kid who loves the bike as much as today's kids love their smartphones. He idealizes his father and imitates every action of his.

 

Then of course, the bicycle is stolen, and then begins a hopeless odyssey of Ricci and his son through the city of Rome. The police was of no help, neither were his friends. It was just them trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

De Sica has used this journey of the father and son to reveal the reality of a war-torn nation. As we see the protagonist wandering places, the only thing they did was uncover scenes of abject poverty similar to theirs. One such scene was of the church, where hundreds of poor and many homeless had gathered to find refuge in God but more importantly to find food. 

After losing all hope, to his astonishment, Ricci finally spots the thief. He follows him to his home and Bruno was even able to find a policeman. They somehow even get the opportunity to search the thief's house which was rather a room where he lived with his entire family. Of course he was poor, evidently even more than Ricci. This was De Sica's justification for the thief's actions. They weren't able find any proof against the said thief. Since there were no witnesses or proof, Ricci was forced not to press charges.

Through the entire film Ricci is unable to embrace the fact that his son is the important possession and not the bicycle. He is so obsessed with getting his job back that he repeatedly ignores his little son. In a later scene, Bruno is almost run over by a car while his father is lost in his misery.

It is not just the despairing journey of the two that makes the film one of a kind, but also the miraculous survival of the poor kid. The kid who later becomes his father's savior. By now Ricci had lost all hopes and was tempted enough to do the unexpected. He himself tries to steal a bicycle, continuing the cycle of theft.

The film had such a huge impact on its initial release that when the British film magazine Sight & Sound held its first international poll of filmmakers and critics in the year 1952, Bicycle Thieves was voted the greatest film of all time.

As I have told you before, nothing will give you a better understanding of the film except for you watching it. So, if you have somehow read the blog till here I think you would be interested, therefore I urge you to watch it!