Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Cinematic force and poignancy has never been as powerfully utilised as it is here in Vittorio De Sica’s master class. Detailing a poverty stricken family in Rome, De Sica’s film presents a world of meaning and independence, but also portrays such life essentials as bravery and emotion in the most astonishing way imaginable. The story follows Antonio Ricci, the father of the aforementioned family as he searches for a job to care for his family, to feed them, to keep them healthy and happy. To get this job he requires the use of a bike – soon it is shown that the job he will be carrying out involves him performing the monotonous task of sticking advertisements and posters to a wall – but the energy that he feels and the delight that extends through his mind soon disintegrates after his bike is stolen.

A simple sequence involving this theft in inevitable, but I wasn’t prepared to connect with Antonio this early on. Seeing the happiness and the effortless emotion in his face as his bike is fixed and he gets the job is both remarkable, yet destructive as we prepare for the loss Antonio will soon suffer. A bike may just be an insignificant item to many, but to Antonio is represents necessity, assurance and above all it represents survival. He not only needs the bike to retain his job, but he requires it to live a happy, healthy life.

Not only does The Bicycle Thief display Antonio’s needs, it shows itself another dimension by the way it explosively documents his fall from grace and segregation from authority and society. He searches frantically for the thief and when he eventually catches him no one wants to listen, always finding force in their excuses and pushing him away. It may not be visually graphic, but De Sica’s immense courage to portray the disgrace that befalls Antonio is as prominent as anything I can ever recall. Antonio is a figure of independence yet he cannot find salvation in his search.

It’s destructive, but unique and imaginative. I felt disheartened by the treatment of Antonio and his attempts for justice, but perhaps the suggestion of loneliness is just as shattering as the lack of hope De Sica pours into our minds. A fierce piece of cinematic beauty with a lead performance like no other, The Bicycle Thief needs to be seen by all.

94/100