Best Movies Ever #2: The Bicycle Thief (1948)

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.

Best Movies Ever #1 - Pyaasa (1957)

Cast: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker.

Directed and Produced By: Guru Dutt
Written by: Abrar Alvi
Music by: S. D. Burman

A movie from the heart, a movie for the heart, Pyaasa is the gem of Indian cinema, a pinnacle which is difficult to overthrown. Pyaasa is a 1957 intense drama flick directed by legendary actor-director Guru Dutt, who fulfilled his dream of making a good movie without apprehensions of commercial success with this movie. Pyaasa has been rated as one of the 100 best films of all the time by Time Magazine in year 2005. Earlier, Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll of all-time greatest films ranked it at #160.

Pyaasa is a journey of a talented but unsuccessful poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) and his pursuit for recognition for his literary work. His failed because of his unprecedented style and un-contemporary genre of writing and his stubbornness of not to succumb to unrealistic though popular literature. His brutal and blunt poems involving sorrows of life and moral crisis of civil society were too arrogant to be published. His journey ends with revelation of hypocrisies exists in the society which is motivated by greedy and inhuman intentions.

Waheeda Rehman with the role of Gulaabo, a prostitute who falls in love with Vijay because of his poems, announced her entry to Indian cinema with an excellent performance. Though she is a prostitute and represents an abhorrent section of society but has a golden heart and played a pivotal role in publishing Vijay’s work. Rehmaan with his royal and charismatic look able to represents upper class of society. He marvelously represents greedy and materialistic society using cruel means for gaining more power and money. Meena (Mala Sinha) as an ex-girl friend of Vijay and wife of Rehmaan beautifully depicts her dilemma for choosing money over love. Other character like brothers of Vijay and friends of Vijay did a fantastic job in caricaturing a society of different dimensions. Even all characters gave their best performances, but this movie solely belongs to Guru Dutt. His performance is one of the best of Indian cinema. His sullen face with failed pursuit for better world represents the forlorn humankind.

Pyaasa is incomplete without its songs and poems. All poems were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, one of the finest writers of Urdu poems. He rephrased most of his poems to suit common public. Music is composed by legendary S. D. Burman and it is worth mentioning that Mohd. Rafi did a wonderful job in representing the true feeling behind each word through his voice.

Though, this film belongs to an era of black and white cinema, it does not let you down with any technical flaws. From Impeccable cinematography to outstanding screenplay and direction, the whole saga consummate for a finest and incomparable endeavor.