Bicycle Thieves - 1588 Words

Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves is a simple story set amidst a post-war Rome. It is a neorealist film characterized by setting the story amongst the poor and working class. The film surrounds the difficult economical and moral conditions of post WWII Italy, reflecting the conditions of everyday life: Poverty and desperation, with the implicit message that in a better society, wealth would be more evenly distributed. The plot is simple, surrounding a man, his son and a bicycle. The film tells a story of Antonio Ricci, an unemployed worker who finally gets a job to paste advertisements in the city of Rome. To keep this job, he must have a bicycle, in which his wife, Maria had to pawn their bed linens to get money to redeem their†¦show more content†¦And tells Bruno, â€Å"To hell with it! You want a pizza?† In a scene of great cheer, they eat in a restaurant and Bruno is even allowed to drink a little wine. The scene also shows a contrast in the food that Bruno and the rich family’s son eats. As Bruno looks hopefully at a family eating platters of pasta, he is brought back to reality as he is told by his father, â€Å"To eat like that, you need a million lira a month at least.† At that period of time, where the Catholic Church is virtually inseparable from all aspects of society, people turn to seers for their salvation. Even though the Riccis seem to be believers—they have a crucifix in their bedroom—they do not attend church on Sunday morning, when things are at their worst. Moreover, Bruno mocks the older boys in the mission church when he kneels and makes the sign of the cross. There is also an attempt to show a belief in the supernatural powers of the seer when one is at means end. This can be seen when Maria wanted to pay for the seer’s prediction of Antonio getting a job, in which Antonio attempt to stop her, showing that he does not believe in them. Yet, later on when Antonio was at wits end in the futile search of his bicycle, he turned to the seer for a glimpse of hope and help. The film also reflects the realist world as it mirrors the happenings of our real world. For example, after the theft of Antonio’s bicycle, a report was made toShow MoreRelatedBicycle Thieves1596 Words   |  7 PagesVittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves is a simple story set amidst a post-war Rome. It is a neorealist film characterized by setting the story amongst the poor and working class. The film surrounds the difficult economical and moral conditions of post WWII Italy, reflecting the conditions of everyday life: Poverty and desperation, with the implicit message that in a better society, wealth would be more evenly distributed. The plot is simple, surrounding a man, his son and a bicycle. The film tells aRead MoreThe Work Bicycle Thieves By Vittorio De Sica2024 Words   |  9 PagesThe work Bicycle Thieves is chosen to be discussed in this essay. Bicycle Thieves is an Italian film published in 1948, directed by Vittorio De Sica. It gained both commercial and a rtistic success, and have won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1948. The film is famous for its neorealism that reflects the post-war Italian society. In the following essay, I’m going to discuss how did De Sica use the cinematography skills to strengthen his expressions in Bicycle Thieves, and the waysRead MoreBicycle Thieves Analysis1154 Words   |  5 Pages While Rossellini’s Rome Open City portrays the struggle for freedom, De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves tries to find the human face. He discovered it not in the exceptional sorrow of war but in the misery of daily life where war is just one aspect of the human lot. Bicycle Thieves takes place at a specific time under a unique series of social conditions that shape both its narrative and its embrace of the Neorealist style. Consider the intricate sociopolitical climate of Italy just before the film’sRead MoreFilm Theory Vs. Realism1509 Words   |  7 Pages. However, not only was the subject matter different from national cinema, it also created a unique film style. The movement’s main principles were set forth by Cesare Zavattini, who released one of its most enduring classic, The Bicycle Thieves. â€Å"The Bicycle Thieves is one of the crown jewels of neorealism, the post-war Italian philosophy of filmmaking that permanently reinvigorated our world of cinema. Rejecting the illusory glamour and set-bound artificiality of conventional filmmaking, neorealismRead MoreItalian Neorealism ( 1945-1953 )1909 Words   |  8 PagesItalian neorealism (1945-1953), through directors like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, made its trademark on cinematic history not only in Italy, but also throughout the world. It was films such as Rome Open City (Roma città   aperta, 1945), The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 1948), and Umberto D., (1952) whose style of depicting the harsh economic and social realities of the poor and working class of Italy took off as a new cinematic style after World War II. Neorealism is a response to desperateRead MoreBicycle Thieves: An Expression of Italian Neo-realism756 Words   |  4 PagesBicycle Thieves is considered an example of Italian Neo-real ism. The plot demonstrates Italians of the working class in Italy and unfolds their day to day lives. One could argue it portray the reality and develops into an emotional storyline towards the end. Antonio, the main character is offered a job requiring a bicycle and on his first day it was stolen on the streets. You immediately feel drawn to the character as you want to see a happy ending. Watching the film, automatically feel sorry forRead MoreMovie Analysis: M vs. Bicycle Thieves Essay1399 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of M and Bicycle Thieves One thing that both movies, M and Bicycle Thieves, share collectively is the open ending; both movies make audiences interpret their own perception or ending of the movies. Also, both movies contain a sense of tragedy in the final scenes; in the movie M, I felt somewhat sympathetic toward the mentally ill killer even though I knew he was the serial killer and might be pretending to get away. The feeling of sympathy toward the serial killer in the presence of hisRead MoreBicycle Sharing System Bixi Comes to New York Essay5149 Words   |  21 Pagesleaked that PBSC was experiencing financial difficulties with its Montreal operations. The contract was worth several millions of dollars and was crucial to Bixi. The leak had the potential to jeopardize the chances of PBSC-Alta to win the contract. BICYCLE SHARING SYSTEMS AROUND THE GLOBE In 2011, bike-sharing services was a booming industry (exhibit 1). From 213 bike-sharing systems in operation in 14 countries across Europe in 2008, by this point there were 375 bike-sharing systems in operation acrossRead MoreTheme Of Neorealism In Ladri Di Biciclette1348 Words   |  6 Pagesscreenwriters who help start the Neorealism movement in his home county’s cinema once said â€Å" The true purpose on cinema is not to tell fables...There must be no gap between life and what is on the screen.† His screenplay, Ladri Di Biciclette (known as Bicycle Thieves to American audiences) is an artful manifestation of the Italian Neorealism. The film through numerous narrative aspects captures realistic snapshot into the fictional life of a working class family in post WWII Italy, and even has viewers questionRead More Comparison Of Two Films: Essay1268 Words   |  6 Pages In that paper, I will try to compare two films which are â€Å"A Birth of a Nation† directed by D.W.Griffith and â€Å"The Bicycle Thieves† directed by De Sica. After giving the story of the films, I will try to explain their technical features and their similarities. A Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Griffith can be seen as the first modern director, his greatest achievements being the historical epics The Birth Of A Nation. When it was released, it was one of the longest