Bicycle Thieves – Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica – 1948)
Published
Stories about the common man emphasizing social issues, scenes shot in actual locations, and the use of non-professional actors – are the key ingredients of the Neorealist film movement in postwar Italy, which this film is one of its prominent expressions.
Directed by Vittorio De Sica and adapted for the screen by Cesare Zavattini based loosely on the novel by Luigi Bartolini, the film tells a simple story. A man’s bicycle gets stolen and he looks for it. No wonder De Sica had difficulties financing the film. You might say it’s a film about nothing. Yet, there is so much more.
De Sica vividly paints a reality of dire economic conditions with consistent use of crowds in various contexts; fighting to get a job in the opening scene, in an endless line at the bus station, leaving a stadium, waiting for a piece of bread at the church.
Antonio and his son Bruno are then thrown into an impossible quest of finding the bicycle somewhere around Rome. The father-son relationship throughout this journey is a rare examination of weighing priorities.
