Language : Italian
Director : Vittorio De Sica
Its a real pleasant surprise when you watch a movie, love it immensely and than do a little googling only to find out that the movie is regarded as an all time masterpiece. "The Bicycle Thief" is a movie by the Italian director Vittorio De Sica. After watching this movie I got an idea of the meaning of often heard term "neorealism" which in the context of art and movie making often means dealing with the life of the real lower strata of the working class society which is most often poverty stricken.
The movie is set in the post 2nd world war Rome where unemployment is rampant and the society is gravely poverty stricken. Antonio is one such unfortunate man who has a family of four to take care of. He happens to find a job of pasting posters in the city which requires him to have a bicycle. Not having one he and his wife deposit their bedsheets to get some money to get a bicycle. The prospect of having a secure income brings about cheer in the family which has Bruno, Antonio's son and an infant child. With Antonio along with his bicycle which is so must for his livelihood in the city, added to that the title of the movie, it feels so certain that the bicycle is about to be stolen and Sica does take advantage of that suspense at certain times teasing the anxiety of the viewer before the bicycle really gets stolen.
Soon after Antonio along with his son (also initially with some more friends) get on to a tiring and day long hunt for the stolen bicycle. What follows is an up and down ride of hope and despair, finally leading to the most striking and touching scene where Antonio is lured and compelled by his own desperation and agony into attempting to steal another bicycle. The pain, sadness and utter helplessness hanging on the face of Bruno when he sees his father being chased by people on the streets and when he runs to save his father from the crowd is so real. The movie has a very simple story which is rather less of any story with any start or end, but simply a tale of the common day's events in the life of a very common person studied and depicted very strongly with the camera.
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