{"id":27938,"date":"2013-04-17T06:38:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T14:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=27938"},"modified":"2013-04-21T21:39:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T05:39:41","slug":"the-bicycle-thief-vittorio-de-sica-1948-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=27938","title":{"rendered":"The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948): Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0Post-war Italy, and Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is in the same predicament that many of his peers are in; he has struggled to find work for over a year, his new job hinges on the use of a bicycle, his bicycle is in hock, and his wife must pawn more of their\u00a0belongings in order to reclaim it, or he’ll lose his job –\u00a0one he desperately needs to support his proud family.<\/p>\n

Young Bruno Ricci (Enzo Staiola) looks up to his “daddy,” and tries to be helpful in every way, even\u00a0carefully cleaning\u00a0the bicycle on\u00a0the first day of work.\u00a0 The sun is shining brightly, it’s a new beginning, and Antonio is off to work, hanging film posters of Rita Hayworth as Gilda, until a group of thieves carefully coordinate the theft of his bicycle.<\/p>\n

After uselessly filing a complaint with the local authorities, Antonio enlists the help of his friends at the sanitation department, who set out together early the next morning, with Bruno, to search for the stolen bicycle, but the weather changes as quickly as Antonio’s hope, of ever retrieving his bicycle.<\/p>\n

Dragging Bruno through town and the open market, Antonio is consumed with his search for the bicycle and less concerned for the safety of his son.\u00a0 He accuses the wrong man, harasses another elderly man during Mass – ignoring the words of the Benediction to “send us guidance from within.”\u00a0 He neglects Bruno, who\u00a0grows increasingly frustrated,\u00a0as he is harassed by a stranger, falls flat on his face in the rain, and is nearly hit by several cars, all during his father’s oblivion.\u00a0 Ultimately a slap in the face (literally and figuratively) quickly separates him from love and devotion to his Papa.<\/p>\n

Rejecting the\u00a0counsel of a wise woman that “either you find it now, or you never will,” Antonio becomes desperate and soon has his eye fixed on an unattended bicycle –\u00a0the father’s vulnerability soon becomes a lesson in compassion to his young son.<\/p>\n

Post WWII Italy brought on the neorealist film movement, which often meant hiring non-professional actors, as in Maggiorani’s superb\u00a0performance.\u00a0 Other elements included modest funding, on-location shooting, and use of natural lighting.\u00a0 The availability of lower grade film stock only added to the documentary style,\u00a0and offered\u00a0a feeling of immediacy.\u00a0 These films contained simplistic plots about the everyday, working class, with low-key dialogue, that requires a keen ear for the hidden gems.<\/p>\n

With subtle themes of the father-son, man and God relationship, Antonio is tested in character, but never abandoned.\u00a0 The Bicycle Thief<\/em> <\/a>(a.k.a. Bicycle Thieves<\/em>), won numerous awards including an Honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.<\/p>\n

Hearing a distant voice yell “help, a boy is drowning,” Antonio becomes panic-stricken, and runs toward the river, yelling “Bruno, Bruno, Bruno!”\u00a0 Momentarily thinking of his son, a\u00a0close up on Antonio’s face\u00a0shows\u00a0his furrowed brow relaxing, and looking around, he gazes upward.\u00a0 An extreme long shot\u00a0reveals helpless little Bruno, in the distance, sitting at the top of the steps, waiting patiently for his Papa.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. \u00a0Post-war Italy, and Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is in the same predicament that many of his peers are in; he has struggled to find work for over a year, his new job hinges on the use of a bicycle, his bicycle is in hock, and his wife must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criterion-collection","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}