Film Journal | Bicycle Thieves (1948)



Introduction & Story Development

Bicycle Thieves (1948) is an Italian Neorealism movie that is directed by Vittorio De Sica and written by Cesare Zavattini. Its main characters are Lamberto Maggiorani as Anthony Ricci and  Enzo Staiola as Bruno Ricci. (Bicycle thieves, n.d.)

This movie is narrating a poor family living in Rome the city. Anthonio is one of the unemployed men at that time. He strives to ransom his old bicycle and eventually grabs the opportunity of working. However, his bicycle is snatched by thieves on the first day of work. Hence, he launches the investigation of the stolen bicycle. In the end, Anthonio not only fails on the investigation but also try to steal others bicycle and being caught by its owner at that moment.

MODERNISM

Halting delivery

In the Bicycle Thieves, a halting delivery is shown in many scenes. The characters will suddenly vary their direction while they are walking to some places. For instance, when Anthonio spots the thief who is accomplishing a transaction on his stolen bicycle, he attempts to chase the bicycle thief. When the chase is happening, Anthonio instantaneously alters his route, decides to chase the old man that having the transaction with the thief. In the scene that Baiocco distribute the tasks among Anthonio, Bruno and his workers, they have varied their routes twice. These scenes are unable for the audiences to foresee the coming events and location, creating an unstable plot development.


Fragmentary and elliptical speeches

This film has demonstrated fragmentary and elliptical speech in numerous scenes. A distinct scene that is showing this feature is on Anthonio's wife, Maria. After Anthonio ransomed his bicycle from a pawnshop, Maria demands to visit a place. Although Anthonio keeps asking who she would like to visit, she refuses to claim it, being somewhat ambiguous. 

Besides, when Anthonio told Maria that he got the job but he could not work, he does not do more elaboration on his speaking words. Maria was confused by the elliptical speech and thus keep asking Anthonio for his interpretation. Therefore, a fragmentary and elliptical speech provides a space for audiences to surmise the characters' sentiment according to the circumstances.  


Open-ended narratives

Bicycle Thieves has implemented an open-ended element in this movie.  Through comprehending the plot development, we could know that Anthonio strives to search for his stolen bicycle to refrain from the circumstances of financial instability, unemployment, and poverty that occur in his family. Even though his theft offence is pardoned, the audiences unable to know the following plot development. The open-ended narrative encourages authorial commentary and discussion on this film. 

ITALIAN NEOREALISM

Contemporary Issue

The contemporary issues of post-war are indicated throughout the film settings and plot development,  resonating with the living of the masses. Inflation after the world war period is severe. Even though the wages are quite high for the working-class, the commodities are high-priced and unaffordable for an ordinary worker at the same time. For instance, a 6,000 lire worker's salary can only redeem the ransomed bicycle that excluded interest. Six pax of high-quality bedding can redeem 7,500 lire.

Unemployment also a contemporary issue at that time. In the beginning, there is a crowd in front of the job hunting association, waiting for the job declaration. The imperative expression of the unemployed masses reveals grave unemployment among society. Both inflation and unemployment issues ultimately lead society into poverty.

ITALIAN NEOREALISM: Form and Style

Offhand composition 

The director of this movie has flattened all the events, included the climax. All the flatten climax includes the chasing bicycle thieves, the encounter with the bicycle thieves in the rain, riot in the church, the encounter with the suspect again and argue with the masses, and a failure theft is done by Anthony. The frequent applications of considerable climaxes will flatten all the climaxes into the same level throughout the plot development.

Loosening of plot itinerary is also presented in this film since there are only four focal points in this film. Anthonio manages to be employed by a company but then his bicycle is snatched by thieves during work. After the investigation with no consequence, Anthonio decides to steal a bicycle from the roadside. After caught and pardoned by the bicycle owner, the film also comes to the end. The progress of investigation has occupied a big portion in this film, constructing a loose plot itinerary. 

Non-actors 

The non-actor casts in this movie will convey the characters' sentiment well as they are the ones who live in contemporary society and overcoming similar problems that happened in reality. Both casts for Anthonio Ricci and Bruno Ricci are not professional actors in reality as they are respectively factory worker (Enzo Staiola, n.d.) and an ordinary 7-year-old child (Lamberto maggiorani, n.d.). Through taking part in this movie, they have launched their actor career afterwards.


Conclusion

All in all, this old movie is a classical movie in Italian Neorealism movies. The story development is quite simple yet meaningful to watch compares to the movie with complex editing and story structure. From my perspective, the interaction between Anthonio and Bruno is similar to the father and son in reality. Although Antony seems not to pay numerous attention to Bruno, the love towards Bruno is implicit and selfless.  

References

Bicycle thieves. (1948, November 24). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/

Enzo Staiola. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821543/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Lamberto maggiorani. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0536009/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm


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