Bicycle Thieves & Italian Neo-Realism: BSA 106 (Screen Arts) Week 15

I have never been a fan of movies that attempt to represent our reality in a realistic manner. My idea of an enjoyable time at the movies is not about seeing an accurate representation of my everyday life, my favourite films are fun, not depressing. This is something I have always believed and while I can appreciate a well made movie that happens to be realistic, it has never been my preference. Bicycle Thieves changed my perspective a little bit.

"Bicycle Thieves"or "The Bicycle Thief" is a 1948 film directed by Vittorio De Sica during the Italian Neo-realism movement. The movement evolved in Italy after WWII and strived to represent a different side of life on film, the life of the hard working, everyman. De Sica helped to establish some of the signature techniques of the Neo-realist movements such as use of natural lighting, inexperienced actors and actual locations instead of sets.

The movie is widely considered to be one of the best ever made, after doing some research I think I know why people feel this way. In Roger Ebert's review of the 1999 re-release of the film he wrote "Such films stand outside time. A man loves his family and wants to protect and support them. Society makes it difficult. Who cannot identify with that?" (Ebert, R. 1999) The movie is easily relatable and leaves the characters undefined enough that the audience can superimpose themselves into these situations. Classics usually evolve from movies that leave something up to the audience's own interpretation, in the same manner that Aesop's fables, the Grimm Fairytales or classic parables become timeless - simplicity.

This simplicity is also the reason why some people might feel that there is not enough going on in the film, criticizing it's simple plot and characters. David Thompson wrote "the more one sees 'Bicycle Thief,' the duller the man becomes...", a statement which I find myself in agreement with. After watching it I discussed the film with my brother, who thought that there was too little going on, feeling that the characters were uninteresting. I concurred with his assessment. Watching the movie, especially the middle segment, I found myself zoning out. Once I realized the majority of the film was going to be him looking for the bike, and most likely having to resort to stealing one himself, I checked out. Going in I knew how highly regarded the movie was and I expected much more of a storyline, with some potential twists and turns. I thought he'd have to steal a bike by the end of the second act and then the rest of the movie would be spent exploring a different narrative path. I waited for him to steal the bike, and once it happened the movie was basically over.

I do however still see the value in a film like this because of the relationship it builds with the audience. While the film is simplistic, I found myself sympathizing with the characters and imagining what my next course of action would be in the same situation. One scene in particular made me feel this way - when the father has to tell his son that the bike has been stolen. During this scene I thought about how I would act towards my own son and how I'd tell him that his father is a failure. Something that really stood out to me during the entirety of the film was how the son sees his father.

The boy (Bruno) looks up to his dad, aspiring to be him one day. We see him enthusiastically clean the bike, not because he has to, but because he wants to see his dad succeed. After doing some research after the fact I found an interesting article that explores this relationship (Sarkar, D. 2011), the author observes that throughout the film Bruno is like a little adult himself, and as his father falls, he needs to become more and more grown up. At the end of the film he is the reason his father is let go and he is the one who reaches out and assures his father even in failure and shame. I agree with this observation, I feel that while Bruno's opinion of his father might be negatively affected by the events of the film, that he is still proud of his dad.While his father has fallen in the eyes of the world, from his perspective he is still the same man.

While the boy seems unchanged by the events of the film, the man experiences a character arc that takes him from the victim of theft to the perpetrator. A message that I think resonates with a lot of people because we have all been in similar situations and understand the temptation. I think it is interesting that the film doesn't shy away from the fact that the man falls from grace, the filmmakers could have easily opted to have the man resist temptation and make the right choice. But they didn't. They didn't because as viewers we learn more from seeing how someone fails than from how someone triumphs. Just like real life we learn from our failures.


Ebert, R. (1999) The Bicycle Thief, RogerEbert.com. Retrieved from:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-bicycle-thief--bicycle-thieves-1949

Sarkar, D. (2011) The Child is Father of Man in Bicycle Thieves, Boloji. Retrieved from:
http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Blogs&sd=Blog&BlogID=533