What is the movie Bicycle Thieves about?
Unemployed Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. His wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), sells the family’s bed linens to retrieve Antonio’s bicycle from the pawnshop so he can take the job. However, disaster strikes when Antonio’s bicycle is stolen, and his new job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his lively son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), Antonio combs the city, growing increasingly desperate for justice.Bicycle Thieves / Film synopsis
How was the bicycle thieves filmed?
Following the precepts of neorealism, De Sica shot only on location (that is, no studio sets) and cast only untrained nonactors. (Lamberto Maggiorani, for example, was a factory worker.) That some actors’ roles paralleled their lives off screen added realism to the film.
What language is bicycle thieves in?
ItalianBicycle Thieves / LanguageItalian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Wikipedia
How does Bicycle Thieves show neorealism?
Italian neorealism was starting to emerge when Vittorio De Sica put the finishing touches to his Bicycle Thieves. The film tackles unemployment, soup kitchens, the Church and communism, depicting a country brought to its knees in the years following the war and preceding a wave of migration.
What happened at the end of bicycle thieves?
At the end of the film, when Antonio is caught stealing the bicycle outside the football stadium, the illusion is finally shattered.
Why is Antonio so ashamed at the end of bicycle thieves?
Antonio is too ashamed to tell Maria or his young son, Bruno, the truth about his bicycle. Instead, he seeks advice from his friend, Baiocco, who’s working on a rehearsal of an amateur stage play. Baiocco tells Antonio that he should look for the bike at Piazza Vittorio, Rome’s largest square, as soon as possible.
What does the bicycle symbolize in Bicycle Thieves?
The bicycle gives Antonio Ricci the ability to earn a good living and live a better life, thus, increasing his social status. 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.
Where is Antonio when his bicycle is stolen?
Antonio Ricci, an unemployed man in the depressed post-WWII economy of Italy, finally gets a job hanging up posters, but he needs a bicycle. But when his bicycle is stolen,, he and son walk the streets of Rome looking for it.
What happens at the end of Bicycle Thieves?
This illusion is almost shattered when Antonio strikes Bruno, but is quickly saved by his fatherly love. At the end of the film, when Antonio is caught stealing the bicycle outside the football stadium, the illusion is finally shattered.
What year is Bicycle Thieves set in?
The unemployment rate is high in postwar Italy. After two jobless years, Antonio Ricci is finally offered a job as a poster-hanger.
Who appears on the poster Antonio hangs in the bicycle thieves?
Perhaps the only self-conscious touch of De Sica’s is the scene in which Antonio’s bike is stolen, while he is hanging a poster of Rita Hayworth. I have always wondered what the meaning of this was, if there was any. The poster is of a Hollywood star.