A.K.A.: Ladri di
biciclette
Country: Italy
Genre(s): Drama
Director: Vittoria
De Sica
Cast:
Lamberto Maggiorani / Enzo Staiola / Lianella Carell
Plot
After his bicycle is
stolen, Antonio Ricci knows he will not be able to keep his job unless he finds
it. So he and his young son spend two
days searching the streets of Rome in hopes of getting the bike back.
What I Liked
*spoiler alert!*
One definition of poetry that I happen to
subscribe to is that it says as much as possible with as few words as
possible. “The Bicycle Thief” is poetry.
Movies do not need to be on an epic scale to
move an audience. As soulful and painful
as any movie that’s been made, this film proves that in nearly every
scene. Here is an extraordinarily moving
movie about everyday people for whom everyday circumstances are matters of
great, even grave, importance. Certainly
there are plenty of movies out there about ordinary people who get caught up
in historic events that prove momentous
for a great many people. But, outside of
being people of their time and place, the Ricci family in this film is not a
part of history; indeed history and society are entirely ambivalent to the fact
of the Riccis and their bicycle. For the
Riccis, however, recovering the missing bike could mean the difference between
getting by and starvation.
One simply must root for
Antonio Ricci, the father looking for any opportunity to find work and keep his
wife and child fed. Indeed the emotions
go far beyond rooting for Antonio. The
heart breaks for the poor man when he finally gets a new job and, on his first
day, after pawning the bed sheets for a bicycle (a prerequisite for the job),
the bike is stolen on his first day at work.
If the heart breaks at that moment, it is slowly bled out as we witness
the desperate search Antonio and son Bruno mount in an attempt to recover the
bike. The relationship between father
and son isn’t a sentimental one, nor does it take the easy route on relying
upon nostalgia from the audience. This
is a father and child out on the streets out of necessity, their hopes in a
torturous cycle of death, rebirth, and death again. It is a hard, uncaring city they are
wandering through, as hard as the nagging truth that all the love they feel for
each other will not put food in their bellies tomorrow.
What I Didn’t Like
*spoiler alert!*
There’s nothing I did not like, but I will say this movie doesn’t always conjure up
enjoyable emotions. It is certainly a
work of beauty, but not the kind of beauty that is digestible by every
taste. Don’t look for happy endings or
validation of traditional morality here.
You won’t find it.
Most Memorable Scene
*spoiler alert!*
As I indicated before,
there are many scenes in this film that are devastatingly poignant. There are still others that are masterfully
directed to play with the audience’s expectations and preconceptions. As artfully done as this film is the whole
way through, the power of the scenes only increases as it progresses. The final moments of the film, when the proud
Antonio Ricci is finally broken before his son’s eyes, will never fully let go
of your heart and mind once it’s been seen.
It’s about as haunting in every sense as anything that’s ever been
filmed.
My Rating: 5 out of 5
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