The Bicycle Thief
Movie: 1948, black and white, 93 minutes (Italian)
-Directors: Vittorio De Sica
-Actors: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carrell, Vittoria Antonucci
The film The Bicycle Thief is about a man who struggles to provide for his family and when finally he receives a job it is imperative that he has a bicycle to travel to the location where he has to paste posters on the wall. The main character Antonio finds a bike for cheap and buys it. When he goes around town, his first day on the job his bike is stole and now he must find it or else his family’s livelihood is at stake.
Why do you think Vittorio De Sica named the movie The Bicycle Thief and also The Bicycle Thieves? What do the titles mean?
Vittorio De Sica has two titles for the film. The Bicycle Thief makes one wonder while watching the movie who the center of attention really is, is it the victim or the thief and apparently from the title it is obvious that the thief is though he is not in much of the film. The Bicycle Thieves shed a whole new light on the entire meaning of the film. De Sica named it “Thieves” plural perhaps because the main character Antonio struggles with understanding why someone would steal another man’s bicycle. When Antonio is at the end of his rope he waivers on whether he should steal a bicycle as well, he attempts to and this is when he sort of realizes that perhaps the other man who stole his bicycle was in the same position. When he crosses paths with the culprit he then accuses him in public, in front of the whole village and this is when after hearing what everyone around has to say and witnessing the man’s lifestyle and what his grandmother has to say about Antonio accusing him. De Sica not only wants us to realize that there was indeed one thief but that there are many thieves in the world and that they are all alike and desperate to put food on the table for their families.
Why does De Sica have certain scenes that are shadowed and darkly lit on the figures of Antonio and Bruno?
De Sica has certain scenes lit differently then others. In a few of the scenes when Antonio and his son are alone looking for the bicycle once more on large scale areas the director films long shots that shed natural sunlight upon the two characters and their figures are dark, the outlines black and this is sort of symbolic to the storyline. Throughout the story we realize that Antonio is oblivious to his son. Through little hints we figure this out thanks to the director. He plants these little moments such as when Antonio cross the street very quickly leaving behind Bruno in a flood of traffic. For the duration of the film Antonio and his son Bruno are together wandering all through Rome to find this bicycle and this bicycle is kind of a symbol for bringing the two together, towards the end of the film De Sica makes it visible technically by the lighting and those placements in the two characters walking together their silhouettes completely bold. This is our conclusion, the two are one.
