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Bicycle Thieves is a a neo-realist film directed by Vittorio DeSica in 1948.
This film features a father, Antonio Ricci, and his son, Bruno.
Unemployed Antonio gets a job, which requires him to own his own bicycle. But Antonio has pawned his bicycle, so he fears he won’t be able to take this job. His wife, Maria decides to pawn their bed sheets so they have enough money to reclaim his bike.
On his first day of work, his bicycle is stolen.
During the rest of the film, Antonio and Bruno look for the stolen bicycle with no luck.
Eventually, Antonio becomes a bicycle thief himself and steals a bicycle. He is caught and saved from jail by his son’s emotional attachment to him.
In the final scene, Antonio and Bruno walk down a crowded street with tears in their eyes.
Next Page [[Cultural Context: Post WWII Italy]]
[[Sources]]
Influences: Italian Neorealism
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The neorealists were generally pro-communist. They feared that capitalists would further oppress workers and expand the gap between the “haves” and “have nots”.([[Taylor 2010->Sources]])
This led DiSica to depict scenes of unemployment, poverty, disdain for the upper classes , and disappointment with life throughout Bicycle Thieves.
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In addition to out-and-out politics, Neorealists were reacting to the film tradition popular during WWII. These films were called “white telephone” films and were created to distract viewers from the dreariness of their everyday lives. They featured idealized people in idealized settings. They were usually well off or rich and bore no resemblance to the lives of everyday Italians. ([[Arnone 1996->Sources]])
The pictures on this slide are from two of these films. Notice the glamorous people in both shots.
Neorealists responded by making sure that that the challenges of everyday life were apparent in their films. In Bicycle Thieves, we see this in the nonprofessional actors, the actual city streets, unemployment, poverty, and a general disappointment with life. Nothing is glossed over.([[Rangan 2018->Sources]])([[Italian Neorealism 2019->Sources]])
Links to examples of how these influences are realized in the film:
[[Unemployment]]
[[Poverty]]
[[Disappointment with life]]
[[Contempt for the privileged]]
[[Non-professional Actors]]
[[Actual City Streets]]
Previous Page [[Influences: Verisimo & Poetic Realism]]
Next Page [[Influences: Victimized by Nazi Germany]]
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Sources
Arnone, Karen. 1996. "Roberto Rossellini and his Italian Cinema: The Search for Realism." The Cinema Under Mussolini. Accessed Nov 30, 2019. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/italians/resources/Amiciprize/1996/mussolini.html.
ND. "Bicycle Thieves." Criterion Films. Accessed Nov 1, 2019. https://www.criterion.com/films/210-bicycle-thieves.
2019. "Bicycle Thieves." Wikipedia. Oct 31. Accessed Nov 1, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_Thieves.
Illingworth, Leslie Gilbert. ND. "Italy was torn between the Allies and Germany." World War Two In Cartoons. Accessed Nov 5, 2019. http://poisonpage.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-war-in-cartoons-by-illingworth.html.
International Reference Service. 1948. "United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Volume 5." Google Books. January-December. Accessed Nov 20, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=ROJ-OuUtI-8C&pg=RA41-PA9&lpg=RA41-PA9&dq=italian+unemployment+in+1947&source=bl&ots=MlyxXEPwpH&sig=ACfU3U1czW_f8MvogI1CsxGtW_HYld3_BQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5s8XpvZfmAhXMi54KHYa6D18Q6AEwEHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=italian%20un.
2019. "Italian Neorealism." Wikipedia. Oct 3. Accessed Nov 1, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_neorealism.
Luciano. 2006. "Roma. Garbatella. Graffito restaurato dal Municipio. Fronte popolare alle elezioni del 18 aprile 1948." Wikimedia Commons. Dec 28. Accessed Nov 10, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma_-_Garbatella_-_Graffito_restaurato_dal_Municipio_-_Fronte_popolare_alle_elezioni_del_18_aprile_1948.jpg.
2019. "Popular Democratic Front." Wikipedia. March 1. Accessed Nov 20, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27291641.
Rangan, Baradaj. 2018. "Bicycle Thieves turns 70: A look at neo-realism through the prism of Vittorio De Sica's classic." First Post. 26 JUl. Accessed Nov 14, 2019. https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bicycle-thieves-turns-70-a-look-at-neo-realism-through-the-prism-of-vittorio-de-sicas-classic-4823671.html.
Rauchwetter. 2009. "Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-476-2094-17A, Italien, Rom, zerstörtes Gebäude BIS: 1944." Wikimedia Commons. March 23. Accessed Nov 16, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-476-2094-17A,_Italien,_Rom,_zerst%C3%B6rtes_Geb%C3%A4ude_BIS..png.
Taylor, Jordan. 2010. "Italian Film Before Neo-Realism: The Silent Era and Facist Cinema." Women and Neorealism. Nov 29. Accessed Nov 18, 2019. https://womenandneorealism.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/italian-film-before-neo-realism-the-silent-era-and-fascist-cinema/.
The Learning Network. 2011. "Oct. 13, 1943, Italy Switches Sides in World War II." The Learning Company. Oct 13. Accessed Nov 8, 2019. https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/oct-13-1943-italy-switches-sides-in-world-war-ii/.
1949. "World Economic Report 1948." UN.org. June. Accessed Nov 20, 2019.
https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_archive/searchable_archive/1948_WESS_Full.pdf.
wwiiphotos. 2019. "Destroyed Italian Town, 1944." eBay. March 8. Accessed Nov 4, 2019. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/WW2-Photo-WWII-Destroyed-Italian-Town-Near-Rome-1944-Italy-1414-/262671328886.
Previous Page [[Legacy: Awards from 1949-2010]]
Main Menu [[Bicycle Thieves]]<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="dDZ97qC"><a href="https://imgur.com/dDZ97qC">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Unemployment
In the early part of the film, a crowd gathers at the employment office. Antonio gets a job, but very few others do.
The films central dilemma focuses on the importance of this job, without which, Antonio and his family will be destitute.
The few happy scenes in the film occur when Antonio retrieves his bicycle from the pawn shop and he and his son set off for his first day of work.
Back to [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]
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Poverty
Virtually all of the people in the film live in poverty.
The first still shows women, including Antonio’s wife, getting water from a pipe in the street because there is no running water.
The second still shows a storage room at the pawn shop will all the bundles of sheets that families have pawned.
The people are so poor that they have to pawn their sheets, like Antonio’s wife has done.
The third still is a close up of Bruno’s coat, which we can see is dirty and has been repaired many times. Antonio’s clothing are the same.
The fourth still shows Antonio and Bruno showing up at soup kitchen, where they followed an old man who may be a lead in finding their bicycle.
Back to [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]
Disappointment with life
There are many scenes in the movie that illustrate disappointment in life. This is part of the final sequence in the film where Antonio and Bruno walk, eventually hand in hand, down the crowded street. They have not found the bicycle and this scene tells us that they will not find it.
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Back to [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]
Contempt for the privileged
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Antonio takes Bruno for a meal that is supposed to smooth over some misunderstandings between them. It is clear that Antonio is spending the last of his money to do so. All they can afford are cheese sandwiches, which Bruno is eating in the first still. Notice that their table has no table cloth.
At the table next to them sits a family wearing fine clothing who is eating pasta on a table with a tablecloth. They are wearing fine clothing.
Later they are served a bottle of champagne and dessert.
When Antonio explains how much money it costs to eat like that family, their temporary cheerfulness is ended.
Back to [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]
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Cultural Context: Post WWII Italy
Bicycle Thieves takes place in post-WWII Italy. Italy was defeated toward the end of the war by the allies and then joined the Allies to help drive the Germans out of Italy. This means that Italian cities and towns suffered destruction from the Allies in the first three years of the war, and then suffered from German retaliations in the last year of the war. This means that many Italians lived in places without basic services and greatly in need of repair. ([[The Learning Network 2011->Sources]]) ([[International Reference Service 1948->Sources]])
The two photos on this screen illustrate some of the destruction that took place in Italian towns and cities.([[Rauchwetter 2009->Sources]]) ([[wwiiphotos 2019->Sources]])
The war also impacted Italy’s economy, which did not start to recover until 1950, which contributed to high levels of unemployment. ([[World Economic Report 1948->Sources]])
Previous Page [[Bicycle Thieves]]
Next Page [[Cultural Context: Post-WWII Italian Politics]]
Cultural Context: Post-WWII Italian Politics
In addition to the disrepair and economic hardships, Italy was also in political turmoil.
At the time of the film, Italy was rebounding from the fascist reign of Mussolini and from outlawing the monarchy. As a result, two political parties were campaigning to dominate Italian politics. ([[The Learning Network 2011->Sources]])
The Democrazia Cristiana were more in favor of expanding capitalism. This group was supported by the US.
The Fronte Popolare favored socialism. This group was supported by the USSR.
The images show symbols of each of these political parties. ([[Luciano 2006->Sources]])([[Popular Democratic Front 2019->Sources]])
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Previous Page [[Cultural Context: Post WWII Italy]]
Next Page [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]Influences: Verisimo & Poetic Realism
Influences from the literary and film worlds included the Verisimo, an Italian literary movement from the 19th century. This movement focused on depicting people in the most humble of circumstances.
Poetic Realism was a style adopted by French filmmakers in the 1930s. It featured a fatalistic view point and characters who were marginalized in society.([[Italian Neorealism 2019->Sources]])
Links to examples of how these influences are realized in the film:
[[Non-professional Actors]]
[[Actual City Streets]]
[[Disappointment with life]]
[[Unemployment]]
[[Poverty]]
Previous Menu [[Cultural Context: Post-WWII Italian Politics]]
Next Page [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]Influences: Victimized by Nazi Germany
The final important influencer of DeSica’s film is the relationship that the Italians had with their former allies, Nazi Germany. As portrayed in this cartoon from the time, many Italians felt victimized by Nazi Germany, coerced into participating in a war that they could not win. ([[Taylor 2010->Sources]]) (Illingworth ND)
This is different from the other influencers because it shows up in the film in one very specific way. The man who steals Antonio’s bike is wearing a German cap as are other members of the thief’s gang.
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Link to an example of how this influence is realized in the film:
[[Victimized by Nazi Germany 2]]
Previous Page [[Influences: Italian Neorealism]]
Next page [[Legacy: Awards from 1949-2010]]
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Legacy: Awards from 1949-2010
Bicycle Thieves won many awards within the first few years after it was released, including Academy Awards and Golden Globe awards.
More importantly, its influence is still felt today. As recently as 2010, it was ranked #4 in Empire magazine’s 100 Best Films of World Cinema.
Film critics today, still write about the influence of Bicycle Thieves.
([[Bicycle Thieves ND->Sources]]) ([[Bicycle Thieves 2019->Sources]])
Previous page [[Influences: Victimized by Nazi Germany]]
Next Page [[Sources]]
Non-professional Actors
Most of the actors in Bicycle Thieves were non professional actors.
Most notably, Lamberto Maggiorani, who played Antonio Ricci, was a factory worker who brought his son to audition for the film. Maggiorani was cast although his son was not. Unfortunately, Maggiorani did not have much success in his life after the film.
Enzo Staiola, who played Bruno, was cast when the director noticed him help his father sell flowers on the street near where the film was already being filmed. ([[Rangan 2018->Sources]])
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Back to [[Influences: Verisimo & Poetic Realism]]
Actual City Streets
DeSica chose to shoot his film on the actual streets of Rome. ([[Rangan 2018->Sources]])
These are stills show some of the street scenes.
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In this sequence of stills, Antonio confronts the thief. He recognizes him from his cap.
This is significant, because, as we learn in the second still, the cap is a German cap.
In the last still, one of the thief’s gang members also boasts to wearing a German cap.
But even though Antonio has successfully identified the thief, he ultimately fails to bring him to justice because he is bullied by the crowd surrounding the thief.
This is possibly symbolic of how some Italians felt about the Germans during and after the war.
They could not stand up to them because they were always supported by a crowd of bullies.
Back to [[Influences: Victimized by Nazi Germany]]