Poverty Grief X Common Belief: The Bicycle Thief

based on what I have observed from

the first 30 minutes of The Bicyle Thief:

I never thought it could be so much, really

 

Italian Neorealism is a style of film,

based on the poor and working class.

 

At the end of World War II,

the neorealist movement began in Italy,

responding to the political turmoil and

desperate economic conditions afflicting the country.

The prevalent plight of the people inspired

directors to focus on lower-class characters and their concerns.

 

Started on with very small budgets,

they used nonprofessional actors and

most of the time outdoor shooting.

It turned out well,

to create realist aesthetic and resonance among the audiences.

 

Up till today, De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves

remains the best-known classic for Neorealism.

 

The setting of the film is mainly divided into

the city and the suburb of Italy.

The suburb, where Antonio and his family are staying,

is portrayed as less developed and empty.

On the contrast,

the modernized city of Rome is lively and crowded.

 

Even the poster Antonio is pasting on the street

during his first day of work reveals

something about the city life.

It is a poster of sexily dressed-up Rita Hayworth,

looking all seductive.

She is an American film actress and dancer,

the star during the 40’s.

 

Therefore, we can clearly see the stark gap in

economic power between the two parts of a same country.

In the suburb,

people are desperate for jobs

to feed their family,

whereas in the city,

people of the upper class still have

the pleasure and leisure to spend money on entertainment.

 

The difference in the manner of

the people of city and suburb

is another key feature illustrated in the movie.

As we would have imagined,

people in the city would have done better,

but it turned out that it is exactly the opposite.

 

The manner does not reflect the

economic power and education level of the people.

In the suburb,

the women line up in proper sequence,

waiting for their turn to collect water from

the public water tap.

 

Contrastingly,

in the city,

where people are all dressing up formally,

seemingly more educated people,

push each other around to get onto the public transport.

Then when the car has been filled up and the door closes,

those still waiting in the line start cursing.

 

The attitude of the man who

is leaning on the wall,

right beside the bicycle is indeed appalling.

He has been standing there for quite awhile,

obviously knows the bicycle is belonged to Antonio and

could have prevented the theft from happening.

However he did nothing at all,

till the thief has got away,

he is still asking, “What’s happening?”

 

And while Antonio is rushing

to chase after the thief,

his anxious shouting of “Stop him, stop him”

falls on deaf ears,

nobody else is bothered to stop the thief.

 

Despite of that,

we can see that there are still some

helpful people around the town. T

here is this helpful driver who

let Richi hops on to his car

in pursuit of the thief.

But to their disappointment,

it turns out to be a wrong man.

 

And later on,

Antonio approaches his friend, Baiocco

who is all eager to help and

assures Maria that they will definitely find the bike.

Next day, it appears that he works as

a street cleaner and

gets another two of his colleagues to help out.

 

In times of desperate,

people resort to superstitious method to

solve their issues.

It is portrayed that women especially,

have faith in fortune telling.

 

And it is not limited to

the uneducated one, old ladies or housewives.

Women of higher education background and social status,

represented by the 3 elegantly dressed up women,

are seeking the service of the fortune teller too.

 

They consult about everything,

from job opportunity to disease.

When the future looks quite bleak and uncertain,

people just need something sort of support to

keep their faith.

 

During the time of economic depression,

people get out of jobs and

there is no other way to get money except pawning.

Pawning is so common that

people practically pawn everything they own.

 

It includes used bed sheet.

Moreover we observe that Richi is

not the only family who is

pawning their bed sheets away,

there are a lot more of pawned bed sheets

stacking high up in the store of the pawn shop.

I wonder if it is possible to redeem the bed sheet back.

 

Anyway,

cotton fetches quite a high price

during the post-war era.

Simple deduction has been made here:

they manage to pawn 6 bed sheets with 7500 lire

but it takes 6000 lire to redeem a bicycle.

 

And the old gentleman right after, pawns

a pair of binoculars, reluctantly.

For such object like the pair of binoculars,

sentimental value may be higher than

the monetary value.

But when it comes to

sentiment versus starvation,

there is really not much choice left.

 

Another issue being brought out in the film is

the impact of poverty on children.

Bruno, the eldest son of Antonio and Maria

is a young chap of barely ten years old.

But he is already working at a pump station.

 

On the street,

two children are playing organ and

begging for money from pedestrians.

And the organ player even gets a kick from the worker,

because he thinks the noisy music is disturbing him.

 

And this is a two-tier problem,

because not only the children are

forced to work at a young age,

it deprives them of the opportunity of

basic education.

Hence, their future is being badly affected.

 

This is the era before

the term “child-labour” is being coined.

But what a shame that

after all these years,

in the world today,

the phenomenon still exists.

 

Besides presenting the plight of the people,

the movie goes on further to

make a mockery of the role of

the government in solving the issue of poverty.

 

During the opening scene,

the bricklayers are questioning the employment officer

why Antonio has obtained a job

while they still have to stay unemployed.

They are tough, willing to do anything,

yet out of job.

 

“You’re a bricklayer,

that’s a different category,” says the officer.

 

They own bicycles,

and as bricklayers,

I am very sure they can handle the job of

pasting poster even better than Antonio.

So this is an unequal reality.

 

On a later scene,

another employment officer is

having a dialogue with the people

regarding a welfare subsidy.

A welfare subsidy is humiliating

since the person has to declare himself

as absolute poor

in order to qualify for a subsidy.

Moreover a meager amount of subsidy

would not help much.

 

On the contrast,

a gentleman suggests a sociologically-oriented program.

In other words,

it is to view poverty as a social plight,

borne together by the people.

Therefore,

the government has to take more drastic measurements in

creating job opportunities,

providing educations for the people and so on.

 

As the officer is saying,

they cannot do miracle,

so basically the people cannot really

put on much hope for

an instant prescription from the government.

 

So are the police force,

it is quite futile to expect them to help.

The inspector listens nonchalantly to

the plight of Antonio’s bicycle theft and

advises him not to expect the police to

recover the bicycle for him.

 

As Antonio asks,

what the use of making a complaint then?

The policeman answers,

“If you find it at a pawn shop tomorrow,

you can call a policeman and you’re on file.”

 

So during the depression period,

crime rate is another alarming issue.

The police deduce that stolen or robbed objects will

naturally land their way in pawn shop.

It is up to the owner to hunt it down.

 

In spite of all the negative issues

as discussed above,

the movie presents some positive values as well. T

he strong value of family,

in time of difficulty holds the members together.

 

When Antonio is out of clue on

how to get a bicycle for work,

Maria immediately thinks of the bed sheets,

the only valuable left to be pawned.

When she learns about the theft,

she comes to look for Antonio, all tearing.

She is the perfect model of

a supporting wife and loving mother.

 

Another touching scene is when

Antonio and Bruno are going out to work,

little Bruno takes an affectionate look at his baby sister,

and carefully closes the window before leaving.

Poverty cannot stop the family from loving each other.

 

A particular trait of the Italians

portrayed in the movie is

the pursuit of enjoyment in daily life.

The common people,

who are struggling in poverty,

cannot afford to spend on entertainment,

like those in the city who are watching Hayworth.

However, life goes on.

The common people still have

their own ways to entertain themselves,

 

Baiocco and a few are rehearsing a stage drama

when Antonio goes to look for him for help.

They even have three musicians,

playing live music for the rehearsal.

And they insist that the crowd

who is earlier on there for

employment meeting could not stay to

look at the rehearsal.

 

It is quite a surprise that

within the thirty minutes,

so many issues revolving the life of

the common people have been revealed.

 

And Italian being a language completely foreign to me,

there is no difficulty understanding the film at all.

This is the great power of neorealism.

 

In addition,

I have enjoyed the element of suspense in the movie.

Since the title already makes it clear that

the movie is about a bicycle theft,

audiences will keep wondering and

looks out for the particular moment of the theft occurring.

 

When it is known that Antonio needs a bicycle or lose the job,

I even imagine he is going to steal one.

Subsequently,

he walks into the publishing office,

carrying his bicycle along gingerly.

It seems quite amusing of him to do so.

 

Then the second suspense happens soon enough,

when he leaves his bike downstairs

at the fortune teller’s apartment.

The child and the teenage boy,

who are hanging around there,

look suspicious enough.

Audiences cannot help but

heave a sign of relief to

find the bike still there.

 

The Bicycle Thief / 1948 / trailer

 

Bibliography

Themes: Italian Neorealism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2011, from The Criterion Collection: http://www.criterion.com/explore/6-italian-neorealism