Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Produced by Giuseppe Amato
Language: Italian
Hard times can break you in pieces. Wisdom and morality will be lost in the woods of reality of life. The uncontrolled circumstances can force you to make mistakes. Mistakes, after you commit, cannot be regressed and at that time you even cannot face your dear ones especially those for whom you are an idol. Antonio face the same situation in 1948 Italian classic drama flick 'The Bicycle Thief'. Though the original name was 'Ladri di biciclette' in Italian which can be translated to 'Bicycle Thieves' in English but movie was released in US with the name 'The Bicycle Thief'. In 1952, the magazine Sight & Sound listed it as the greatest movie ever made. This movie also got the Academy Honorary Award in 1950. It always ranked among the top in almost all the polls conducted worldwide for e.g. it was placed sixth as the greatest movie ever made in Sight & Sound's directors' poll, conducted in 2002 and was ranked in the top 10 of the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
The movie is the classic example of the neo-realism movement started in Italian film industry which portrays the reality of Italian middle and lower middle class society. Movie is set up in the economy of Italy just after the world war II. Antonio Ricci is one of the many who are unemployed and are living in penury. Fortunately, Antonio gets the job of pasting posters but on a condition that he must posses a bicycle. 'No bicycle, no job'. His wife sells some old and some new bed sheets to buy a bicycle but hard luck prevails and Antonio's bicycle get stolen on the first day of his work. He cannot continue his job until he finds a bicycle therefore along with his son, Bruno, he starts searching for his bicycle. The whole day he searches for his bicycle but with no luck. At last, he try to steal one but unfortunately public catch hold off him. While he was stealing bicycle his son saw him. He was embarrassed to set a bad example in front of his own son, but at the end his son slips his hand into his father hand letting him know that he still believes in his father and still he is his idol.
Vittorio De Sica as the director of movie casted a steel worker Lamberto Maggiorani as Antonio Ricci who was unproffesional and novice to film industry but he beautifully portrayed a common man of Italy who was unemployed, helpless and dejected from his life. On the other hand, Bruno played by Enzo Staiolo was remarkable in displaying innocence of childhood and ability to understand agony of his father. In one of the scene where he was dining with his father in a restaurant, he looked towards kids of affluent class who were eating full pasta whereas he was just having bread and mozzarella but he starts pretending to be enjoying it too. There are many such scenes in the movie where your eyes turns wet while watching father-son relationship in the utmost mesmerizing way.
'The Bicycle Thief' shows the reality of Italy - real streets - real house and real people facing real situations. It wonderfully depicts the prevalent culture and society of Italy as the background keeping the realism of life of a common man at front. Movie is a landmark in the history of world cinema because of its significance of being inspiration for many directors of world wide. Indian legendary directors Stayajit Ray and Bimal Roy were inspired from this movie. Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali and Bimal Roy's 'Do bhigha zameen' were the tribute to 'The Bicycle Thief'. I can see similar father-son relationship in 'Life is beautiful' and 'The pursuit of happyness' but not so subtle and charming as in 'The Bicycle Thief'. A scene where Bruno started crying after getting hit by his father and then showed his anger by saying 'I will tell mom that you hit me' and Antonio replied by saying "In a second you’ll have more to tell her". I could not resist a sweet smile comprehending the ongoing beautiful emotional link between father and son.
My heart is not as complicated as I perceive, it loves simplicity and therefore 'The Bicycle Thief' will always remain very close to my heart.
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