Bicycle Thieves | A Masterpiece Of Highest Order | The Critique

It is difficult to define the purpose of cinema in absolute terms. Probably the most approximate measure is how well a movie presents a story on screen. But that doesn’t highlight the purpose in totality. For good cinema, one of the checkboxes is simplicity. Simplicity is in itself a very complicated idea. It’s a tight rope. These two concepts – purpose and simplicity – are usually least researched aspects in today’s cinema. Bicycle Thieves is one easy reference to understand these two concepts.

Bicycle Thieves is a neo-realistic film. Most of the actors playing part in the film are amateurs. Based on an adapted screenplay of novel, Vittorio De Sica re-invented neo-realism. His interpretation of characters and presentation of the story moved critics and cynics. It is also important to make a note of the era in which the film came out and the effect that factor had on psyche of audience across the globe. The movie was released in 1948. Memories of WWII were fresh and nation was undergoing re-development. International community also saw it as a non-political aspect of war.

Bicycle Thieves is story of a poor man whose lone chance of survival depends on a job that needs a bicycler. He gives away his family’s last proud asset to get his bicycle back from a money lender. As destiny wanted, the bicycle is stolen. Rest constitutes the drama of this iconic film. The man and his young son search for their bicycle but in the end they get nothing. While a ray of hope is visible, it’s at the end of a long tunnel. Film is unapologetic in expressing the plight of the lowest strata of the Italian society (or most of the European countries) after the end of WWII.

Over the time, Bicycle Thieves or The Bicycle Thief earned reputation beyond metric proportions. Connoisseurs across the globe loved it for precise representation of the situation with any unnecessary melodrama. Having untrained amateurs on board earned accolades for the abilities of Sica who had already established his name at international level with his previous film Shoeshine. Sica not only nailed the simplicity aspect of cinema, by presenting an absolutely sympathetic case of poor people he gave a spirit to the film. A fate rarely achieved with perfection.  

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh