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The Bicycle Thief

             Early Italian films focused on the life of middle and upper classes; these films were commonly known as "White Telephone Films." Italian Neorealism is a genre which places emphasis on the values of ordinary people. The Bicycle Thief is an excellent example of Italian Neorealism because it shows the working class without glamorous enhancements to the script or in the editing room and the production uses outdoor sets and natural lighting to enhance the realism. .
             The Bicycle Thief is about a poor family in which Ricci, the father, is looking for a job. He finally finds one, however, he needs a bicycle for the job. He then gets his bicycle stolen from him. This basic plot is an excellent example of Italian Neorealism because the film shows a life of a poor family struggling to try and make it in the world. .
             Italian neorealism moved away from "White Telephone Film" and started portraying life of working class people. An example of this can be seen in The Bicycle Thief. The film begins with a group of people outside the employment office all looking for jobs. When the time comes to hand out listings the office only has two. Unlike earlier films this does not have a silver lining; it is simply portraying life as it is with out the glitz and glamour earlier films added. .
             Another element Italian Neorealism chaged was not breaking-up time and space. For instance, in The Bicycle Thief when Ricci tells his wife, Maria, that he got a job, but he needed a bicycle for the job. The shot consisted of them walking throughout the house just doing daily chores with times where no conversation is taking part at all. The camera is jumping to different shot not to displace time, but to continue what was previously happening in the prior room. .
             Italian Neorealism came about during the Post World War II era. The film industries were attempting to cut back on their expenses. One of the ways they did this was to shoot on location and use natural lighting rather than building a set in the studio.


Essays Related to The Bicycle Thief

1. The Bicycle Thief

The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio De Sica is a movie that breaks the Hollywood aesthetic of beautiful people, fancy homes, and extensive wealth that only thrives in fantasy and sometimes-unconquerable dreams. ... The Bicycle Thief conveyed to me; that times may become rough and sometimes it is hard to see through the smoke of a blazing fire, love endures and is the only thing that will survive disaster. ... "The Bicycle Thief is a searing allegory of the human condition, a caustic narrative of despair and hope, loss and redemption, poignantly told in subtle actions and spare words" (Acquarello, ...

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2. Bicycle Thief

In Vittorio De Sica's, Bicycle Thief, Pier Paolo Pasolini's, Mamma Roma, and Roberto Rossellini's, Rome, Open City, each filmmaker uses humor to evoke emotion and bolster his view about the absurd nature of extreme class distinctions in post WWII Italy. ... Vittorio De Sica deviates from his grave and serious expressive strategy of portraying a desolate and devastated country by injecting unexpected bits of humor in the "pizzeria" scene in his film, Bicycle Thief. ... During the film, the viewer realizes the importance of the bicycle as the sole ray of hope in the protagonist, Antonio...

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3. Bicycle Thieves and Aristotles Poetics

Victorrio De Sica's film The Bicycle Thief possesses some of the qualities and aspects of Aristotle's theory, but certainly not all. ... Many people will say that The Bicycle Thief is a tragedy. ... Throughout the film, he is looking to get back his bicycle but to no avail. ... The characters in this film are subject to "the same cyclical structure: the impoverished Roman is the first victim of the theft of his bicycle, and finally out of desperation himself becomes a bicycle thief" (Restivo, 36). ... In conclusion, The Bicycle Thief is a film that can be classified in many ways. ...

  • Word Count: 732
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4. Chosen Scene Shot Analysis - Bicycle Thieves

One of the two men rode away with his bicycle while the thief's partner distracted Antonio and lead him in the wrong direction chasing after his bicycle. ... After just being chased off by the thief's family and friends they begin to lose hope and Antonio enter a state of psychosis in which he is pushed to the edge and attempts to steal a nearby bicycle. ... After passing the bicycle Antonio turns around and very cautiously approaches the bicycle with a demeanor that appears very suspicious. He lunges for the bike and immediately begins a running mount onto the saddle followed by the assumed o...

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5. Bicycle Theif

Another fine example of neorealism is The Bicycle Thief (1948), written by Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio De Sica. ... Antonio's new job can bring his family new hopes and happiness, which are drastically destroyed when his bicycle is stolen. The banal circumstances are brought to life when it is realized that a modest bicycle is such an important element in determining the future survival of the Ricci family. ... Antonio's frustration of missing the thief for a second time fuels the hopelessness in continuing his search. ...

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6. Plot summary and response to de Sica

The movie's main character is up for a job posting posters throughout the city, the only glitch is that it requires a bicycle. He says he can get one, with that he pawns his family's linens to acquire a bicycle so that he can support them. During his first day on the job his bicycle is stolen. The movie progresses a few days while the man and his young son comb the streets looking for the bicycle and the thief. He finds the thief, but without proof or witnesses they are unable to do anything. ...

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7. Film Review - Bycicle Thieves

Bicycles Thieves (1948) represents one of the most important films of Italian neorealism. ... It is because all of these features that Andre' Bazin said that Bicycle Thieves is "one of the first examples of pure cinema. ... When Antonio was going to be lynched by those people who defended the thief; and the last scene, which can be seen as a denunciation against the hope for social justice. Concerning the structure of the sequences "little by little episodes become increasingly dramatic: the escape of the accomplice, the impossibility to arrest the thief, the attempt of robbery. ... In...

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8. Conduct In Military Housing

Theft of personal property especially bicycles is a growing concern. On numerous occasions residents of Lee Village reported the theft of their children's bicycles. A few weeks later the owner recovered the bicycles after spotting a child riding the bike through the same neighborhood from which it was stolen. Military Police were called and visited the home of the alleged thief and found multiple bicycles and parts in the garage. The child's mother denied any knowledge of the bicycles being stolen; the child was only 13 years old. ...

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9. "The Message of Affirmative Action"

The illustration that Boxill uses is that of a bicycle that is stolen and then let to the offspring of the thief. He points out that the offspring would be wrong in keeping the bicycle, even though he or she was not the cause of the disinheritance. ...

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