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