Mike Bartodziej
World Cinema
The Bicycle Thief
The Bicycle Thief, directed by Vittorio de Sica in 1948, paints a heart wrenchingly
realistic portrait of the cycle of poverty set in post-World War II Rome. The problems of the
main character are clearly shared, as poverty was rampant given the setting. The film depicts this
using mainly traits typical of the Neo Realism style.
It’s hard not to notice how much The Bicycle Thief embodies the Italian Neo Realist style
of filmmaking. Neo Realism is all about what the name suggests; reality. It is meant to show as
accurately as possible, a realistic story that would often deal with social issues with as little
fabrication as possible. The Bicycle Thief does exactly that, while containing practically all of the
style’s characteristics which include: focus on the poor, use of non-actors to portray characters,
use of real locations, and an attempt to remove falseness from the motion picture and connect
simple personal stories to the problems of the larger society.
The Bicycle Thief narrates the story in a restricted, objective, point of view. So the viewer
really only knows what Antonio knows as the story follows his actions. As a result, any
connections between his story and the films message have to be inferred based on what happens
in the plot and mise-en-scene. This movie shows the cycle of poverty against the backdrop of the
economically depressed post-World War II Rome.
Right when the film starts, the movie shows that there is a tremendous amount of
poverty, as it opens to a crowd of people standing outside of what appears to be an
unemployment office. All of them are waiting to see if they can get a job. As Antonio is called
up, he is told he needs a bicycle to do the job he has been selected for. When he mentions that his
is broken, multiple people start shouting that they have bicycles and could do the job, even
though they are various tradesmen. It shows how desperate everyone is just to be able to work
and make money. With this scene in consideration, the fact that his bike was stolen itself shows
that the poverty expands beyond just Antonio. This is because it raises the question of why the
bike was stolen. When considering that bikes are in demand for people to do certain jobs, one
can lean toward the assumption that the bike was stolen for that reason.
Another scene that shows how poverty effected the greater population is the scene at the
restaurant. When looking around the restaurant Antonio and his son Bruno see rich people eating
lavishly with expensive, high quality food, wine and champagne. Antonio remarks that the
people have to be extremely wealthy to eat in that fashion. This remark shows that being that
wealthy is certainly not the norm of society at the time, and is affirmed when he expresses to
Bruno that if he kept his job they would at least be able to eat.
The relationship between Antonio and Bruno is another thing that can be seen as a result
of their poverty. Antonio treats Bruno like a grown man, giving him wine when they have a
meal, and being so preoccupied with his hunt for the bike that he often leaves him to care for
himself. This can be seen when Bruno takes a tumble in the middle of the street in a rainstorm,
getting soaked. His dad didn’t even notice until after the fact. On top of all of this, Bruno appears
to work at a gas station, despite his being so young, something a typical kid from a middle class
family surely wouldn’t do.
The movie really exemplifies the idea of the cycle of poverty, something that is very real,
especially in today’s society. The cycle begins with Antonio having a bike and a job. The bike
gets stolen, which means he’ll lose his job. After failing to find it, he resorts to the same heinous
act that put him in such a tough spot to begin with. After that fails, he is once again in poverty, as
the movie ends, having come full circle. This is a social issue that people still deal with.
The Bicycle Thief is a classic of Italian Neo Realism. It shows the effects of poverty in the
economically depressed post-World War II Rome. It is a very realistic account of how poverty
can change people’s lives.