BICYCLE THIEVES

                    BICYCLE THIEVES

Bicycle Thieves is a 1948 film by the pre-eminent Italian director Vittorio De Sica.Cesare

Zavattini’s screenplay,an adaptation of Luigi Bartolini’s novel of the same name along with De Sica’s

avid desire to depict Italy’s penury and unemployment after the Second World War brought about

one of the most prominent Italian Neo Realist Films ever!This movie gives us a Melancholic

Pleasure.You might wonder why did I use an oxymoron to describe this film.It’s because, this movie

leaves the audience in tears but it doesn’t stop us from watching it over and over again.

Well! Why do

we binge watch a movie which makes us burst into tears!That’s because of the tragic pleasure it

imparts,this mechanism of the mind is elucidated in Poetics by Aristotle.In a nutshell it goes

something like-When we watch a Tragedy we give an outlet to our emotions and we get purged or

cleansed and become more ‘ happy-go-lucky’ individuals.Reviewing any classical movie is a long row

to hoe and reviewing one of the greatest of them is much more challenging.But the aesthetics in

these films entice any Dick and Harry to review them!

Bicycle Thieves portrays the story of a desperate job seeker,Antonio Ricci in the Post- War Italy,where he manages to find a job and to sustain it he had to have a bicycle.He could never let

go of the job since there are millions to claim it once it drops from his grip.Besides ,Getting another

employment seemed next to impossible!Eventually his wife comes up with a solution.

She sells the

bed sheets which were her wedding presents and redeems their bicycle from the Pawn Shop.How

true is the saying-The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world! Finally the zero hour

commenced!Ricci along with his little one Bruno set out to work.But unfortunately his bicycle would

be lifted by a bloke and he’s left on the road destitute…Will he get his vehicle back?Watch the movie

and disentangle the knot!

De Sica was one of the Stalwart trio of Italian Neo Realism,the other two being Luchino

Visconti and Roberto Rosselini.The matter with stalwarts is that they staunchly adhere to the tenets

of their movements.Close scrutiny of Bicycle Thieves gives us an insight into the pathetic situation of

Rome and also of the Neo Realism as such.The speciality of any great movie is that it would be subtly

suggestive rather than overtly proclaiming, so is this one.It seems like Ricci got weary of waiting for an

employment since we find him staying aloof at the point his name was called out.This shows us how

pervasive the problem of unemployment was.Our first encounter of Ricci’s wife Maria is while she

was at the pipe filling her buckets with water.We find garrulous women gathered around and chit- chatting around the pipe but they seldom take notice of Maria.Perhaps Antonio and Maria were new

comers there or had migrated to that locality in search of employment.Since the main motive of the

filmmaker was to portray reality as it stands, De Sica preferred location shooting to shooting on sets. Even the lighting employed was only natural light.Coming to the cast -both of the protagonists viz

Ricci and Bruno were amateur artists.Lamberto Maggiorani who acted as Ricci was in reality a factory

worker and our favourite little Bruno-Enzo Staiola was spotted by De Sica while he was with his father

selling flowers…No Wonder! Who can escape his tiny enticing eyes!These aspects indubitably give the

film a realistic touch and add to the import of the film,not a single scene is contrived. This film brilliantly juxtaposes the dual nature of Rome-the contrast between the haves

and the have not….The rich and the wretch!We find people like Ricci struggling to make both the ends

meet.They hardly manage to live from hand to mouth whereas the glamorous poster which Ricci

sticks on to the wall tells another story.The urban elite drink the ambrosia of life to the lees while the

working class were being crushed under their feet.There was neither equality nor equity.On a rainy

Sunday only a handful of lucky ones are seen moving in vehicles while the others couldn’t even afford

an umbrella.We are told that it rained every Sunday.So the people could anticipate the rain but they

couldn’t afford umbrellas owing to their dire penury.The commotion of the commuters around the

tram tells us about the inevitability of Public transport, in such a place having a bicycle is a luxury.Even

at the restaurant the well- to- do could even afford the entire stall but the plight of Ricci is such that

he was too much preoccupied with the mess in his life that he was not even able to savour the

sumptuous dinner once in a blue moon. Last but not the least- comes our Hero!The cynosure of the entire film-Bruno!The

image of Bruno tottering behind his desperate father lingers in our minds.Every expression,every

glance and even his fall in the muddy water is a pleasant sight.How do I love thee little Bruno!

Irrespective of the weather and bereft of food this kid was incessantly moving.None bothers to take

care of him,once he blurted out that he was hungry- his father snapped at him and he got

slapped.Subsequently comes the hilarious scenes wherein we find the indignant little Bruno

irresistibly cute!His marathon of winning hearts begins with all those grins and frowns of his alluring

tiny face.He was the one running behind the thieves,witnesses and bringing the officers.His presence

in the frame is in itself entertaining.In the entire film only the title is a bit misleading or rather

disappointing.

Because in the end when the hero is called a thief the genuine efforts of him to retrieve

the bicycle goes unacknowledged!Think of the plight of Ricci!He was robbed of his vehicle,deprived of

his livelihood,stripped of his dignity and eventually been called a thief! So friends…What do you think

of the title?I insist on you watching this movie!….No that I want my gentle readers to cry watching a

tragedy but I want it’s cathartic effect to purge you and you will emerge happier:):)

Santhwana Thomas