Makes Peaches
Similar to Cinema Paradiso, this movie tells you about another time and place you never knew existed. I liked how it ended and that it was about something simple, a bike, but about so much more, poverty, crime, morality, love, self esteem.
Jack Hawkins (Hawkensian)
'Bicycle Thieves' is a sometimes poignant film about the plight of the 'little man' who has no contacts, no influence, no money, no nothing'.I must admit that the extremely high esteem in which it is held leaves me slightly at a loss. Its themes of wealth and class are clear but they rarely evoked much emotion within me for Antonio - our protagonist and victim of the titular bicycle thieves - is rather dull. The one and only exception to this is when he gleefully indulges at a local restaurant with his son Bruno. Alas, the pleasure it brings them is fleeting.I felt a modicum of indignation here and a degree of pathos there, but ultimately, 'Bicycle Thieves' did not compel me. Certainly not compared to the gritty kitchen sink fare of the British New Wave some years later. Rather, I appreciated it as a cinematic artefact; an educational experience rather than an entertaining one.
Prismark10
Set in Italy after the second world war, Bicycle thieves is an example of Neo-Realism Italian cinema, looking at broken Italy and its broken people trying to survive in poverty.From the opening shot we can see Antonio Ricci as lost all hope. He is in the margins of society and suddenly there is a job opening for putting up posters that requires having a bicycle. However he has no bike, he pawned it. His wife Maria pawns their bed sheets and uses the money to get the bicycle back.For the first time in a long time Antonio believes life is on the up. With the wages and the family allowance he reckons he can look after his family. He finally has hope.This hopes come crashing down when his bicycle is stolen by an opportunistic thief and he searches all over Rome with his son Bruno looking for the bike and thief.Antonio gets increasingly desperate in the search for his bike, by the end he is humiliated and fatalistic. See Antonio almost get knocked over by a truck he does not care.There is a key scene at a restaurant with his son where Bruno eats a pizza and drinks water and Bruno sees a wealthy family eating a sumptuous lunch. Antonio explains to him how important this job was and the money he was going to make meaning he could afford treats like this for the family.Antonio may not had been good in his job but the film explored the men who were marginalized in Italian working class society and it was their wives who had to be practical in order for the families to survive.This is a raw film it is not an easy watch, you suffer as Antonio goes on his fruitless search and you will him to steal a nearby bike and just ride off.
Leofwine_draca
BICYCLE THIEVES has gone down in film history as a classic for its ability to transport the viewer effortlessly to a different time and place: to post-war Italy, blighted by poverty and restrictions on general life, where the mere possession of an ordinary push bike is the difference between life and death for an ordinary family.The film follows a father and his kid as they pursue the thief who has stolen the father's bicycle. There's no more plot to it than that, but the film uses the opportunity to explore mob violence, social realism, petty crime, justice, family relationships, and of course poverty. It's a well acted and realistic drama throughout, sometimes too realistic as it ultimately ends up being rather depressing. The film is beautifully shot and easy to watch despite the subsequent passing of the years.
AD
