FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Vittorio de Sica - Bicycle Thieves


I love Bicycle Thieves so much! This is exactly what I expect from FILM: After the credits roll, I'm on my feet somewhere else in the world of Bicycle Thieves. And I have thoughts that were stimulated by this film alone!

Vittorio de Sica's Bicyle Thieves is such a venerable masterpiece, praised in every encyclopaedia, that I was truly amazed at how vivid and fresh the film still is today! Sure, in 1949 the film was awarded an Oscar and since then, in pure routine, it has been counted among the greatest films of all time. But actually it is a simple film about a man who is looking for work. The director Vittorio de Sica was firmly convinced of one fact: That each of us can really play ONE role - himself! Bicycle Thieves was written by Cesare Zavattini, who is considered the father of Italian Neorealism. He wrote a famous essay about how he and de Sica searched for characters in real life. It was the time after the Second World War and Italy was paralyzed by poverty. The story is quickly told. Lamberto Maggiorani, a non-actor, embodies Ricci, a man who every morning makes the hopeless attempt to find work. But one day he succeeds: a job is offered to a man who owns a bicycle. And Ricci owns a bike! But he had to pawn it. Only with great effort Ricci and his wife manage to cash in the bicycle and Ricci is able to work as a postman. One day he carelessly parks his bicycle without plugging it in. We expect it to be stolen - but the bike is still in its place when Ricci returns. But then it is actually stolen - no doubt by another man looking for a job. Ricci, together with his little son Bruno (Enzo Staiola), tries to catch the thief. But HOW in the winding streets of Rome? And of course the police are no help. Ricci finally gives up and teaches his son that life means nothing but suffering. You live and you suffer. To hell with life! - and that's why Ricci and his son are eating a pizza. To be able to afford it, you'd have to earn a million lira a month, Ricci told Bruno. But a moment later, Ricci discovers the bicycle thief and follows him to a brothel. An ugly crowd is waiting there. A policeman approaches, but he can't help, because there are no witnesses except Ricci himself. What should Ricci do? Finally he himself is tempted to steal a bike in this cycle of poverty and theft. Bicycle Thieves is told so directly that it resembles more a parable than a drama. Sometimes it might be a little bit disappointing that Ricci's character basically only seems to be really alive in the pizzeria scene. But this might be because of the character of the parable. Nevertheless, Ricci is a timeless character. A man who does everything to protect his family. Who could not identify with him? And seriously; who doesn't have to cry after Bicycle Thieves - what does this man feel anyway? Neorealism as a term can mean a lot. But above all I understand it to mean films from everyday social life, born in the poverty after the war. In Bicycle Thieves, de Sica introduces the neo-realist world in a very pointed way, at the moment when Ricci is looking for his bicycle in front of a big "Rita Hayworth" poster. Here the neo-realist world, there Hollywood. The key message is that in a better society, prosperity would be more fairly distributed.