Bicycle Thieves Notes

1) Films about working class life

a) Antonio and many other men trying to get jobs

b) When Maria and Antonio go to sell their sheets for money, worker appears fluid doing

his working, demonstrating his comfort in working in that situation

2) Set in the culture of poverty  

a) Poor living conditions, i.e. have to receive water from well, house small and run down,

very hard to find good job, bicycle is only means of transportation, crummy clothes

b) Depressed economy

3) Critical of Italian culture of the time 

a) Depressed post-WWII economy

b) Under control of fascist government

c) Unemployment high

d) Huge divide between poor and rich

4) Filmed on location 

a) Italian life during rough tough

b) Affects audience more by showing real life, non-actors

5) Inconspicuous editing and camera techniques, few close-ups 

a) Keeps it simple for audience to focus on what’s going on

b) grainy, almost documentary cinematography

c) frequent use of hand-held camera

6) Use of non-actors

a) Use of actors would mask the true feelings of people during the time

b) “actors” involve were either real people or were actors who came from a working class

job

7) Focus on the mundane - day to day tasks 

a) Exposes the hardships of the common people, creates a sad and desperate mood to the

movie

8) Children important in story, they suffer - often observers of adults and events unfolding  

a) Bruno acts as Antonio’s eyes

b) Brings a sense of innocence to the film

c) Facial expressions transmit through to the audience as the emotions that should be felt

9) Themes suggest society would be better if the wealth were more even distributed.

a) Restaurant scene with Ricci and Bruno and the wealthy family

b) Many people in beginning scene trying to get one available job.

Additional Points

Antonio seems unable or unwilling to embrace the obvious redemptive moral - that his

son is the important possession, not the wretched bicycle.

Bruno's simple physical survival is the movie's secret miracle.

Poverty's authentic sting: banal and horrible loss of dignity

Important theme: man is alienated from others in a segmented society, and everyone

focuses on their individual needs

o  breakdown of human values while struggling through hard times

o good vs. evil

Disparity between rich and poor-the true thievery involved in the movie

o Obvious symbols of the depravity of the rich

The upper-class man blowing bubbles in the flea market followed by the

upper-class pedophile (really creepy) who tries to pick up Bruno.

There is the nasty little rich boy in the restaurant with his fancy dessert

looking over at Bruno, the poor boy with no dessert.

There are the rich people dispensing charity at the church, another crowd

interfering with Antonio’s desperate search.

Just before Antonio’s thieving, fancy cars almost run down Bruno.

Religion

o The church people who will help crowds but not the individual; the fortune-teller

who gets her insights from God.

o When the owner of the bicycle that Antonio steals forgives him, a spectator says

he should thank God.

o A crowd of priests jabbers in German, fascinating Bruno with this

incomprehensible language.

o The tangle of wrought iron outside the fortune-teller’s door is echoed later by a

medusa-gate outside the brothel.

o Religion in this movie means mystification or whoring.

Bicycle

o Serves as a symbol for relationship between the one and the many

o It is contrasted to the hundreds or thousands of bicycle parts in the two flea

markets.

o Its brand name, “Fides” means faith or trust in Latin.

Hero Archetype

o The quest for the recovery of the bike makes for the greater part of the story and

the significance being Antonio’s desperation for and realization of a better life for

him and his family. He exhibits the greatest desire to be a successful man and

often becomes delusional in his attempts at the recovery of his bike. In his most

desperate hour, he succumbs to his desires so badly, that he jeopardizes the safety

of his son, Bruno Ricci.