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Bicycle Thieves
The Bicycle Thief
Italy 1948
produced by
Giuseppe Amato, Vittorio De Sica for Produzioni De Sica
directed by Vittorio De Sica
starring Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci, Giulio Chiari, Elena Altieri, Carlo Jachino, Michele Sakara, Emma Druetti, Fausto Guerzoni, Giulio Battiferri, Ida Bracci Dorati, Mario Meniconi, Sergio Leone, Checco Rissone, Peppino Spadaro, Massimo Randisi
screenplay by Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci, Gerardo Guerrieri, based on the novel by Luigi Bartolini, music by Alessandro Cicognini
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Life in post-war Italy is nothing but a hardship for Antonio (Lamberto
Maggiorani), as he has a family of four to feed but no job - and when he
finally gets a job posting advertising bills, he almost cannot accept
since a bicycle is vital for the job, and his is with the pawnbroker. His
wife (Lianella Carell) is more practical than him though and just pawns
out his bedsheets to get him his bike ... and the job. But then, on the
first day, the bicycle is stolen, and with it gone, Antonio sees his life
in shambles. The next day though, his best friend garbage man/actor
Baiocco (Gino Saltamerenda) takes him and his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) to
a few bicycle black markets, where they might not succeed in finding the
bicycle, but it gives Antonio hope to continue his search together with
Bruno. They soon comb approximately half the city, and the longer it goes
on, the more it becomes an existential search for Antonio, so much so that
he at times forgets to look after Bruno - who matches pretty well on his
own, but he's still a kid of no more than eight years. Also, with the lack
of success of their quest, Antonio seems to sink lower and lower, as he at
one point attacks a beggar (whom he believes to know the thief) during a
mass, at another he visits a clairvoyant he has warned his wife of just
the other day, and then he reports someone he believes to be the thief to
the police without proof, and without seeing the poverty that guy lives
in. And in the end, after sending his son home, Antonio tries to steal a
bicycle himself - and is only saved from an angry mob by his son, who
hasn't listened to him, and a bicycle owner who shows more sympathy to
Antonio than he ever could ... One of the most successful films
of Italian neorealist cinema, Bicycle Thieves could with many never
quite shake the reputation of being over-sentimental (as which it was
ciritcized even upon release) while others only see its humanist values in
it, neglecting its cinematic qualities. What Bicycle Thieves
actually is is a rather un-sentimental film that weaves its symbolism into
its story rather seamlessly, blends its sucial drama into an entertaining
sort-of genre story with ease, and finds the right balance between a
realist portrayal of the working class's hardships in post-war italy and
cinematic poetry. A rather wonderful movie, actually, and of course
highly recommended - not only by me mind you ...
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