Bicycle Thieves Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bicycle Thieves - Movie Review Example The director of the movie Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini visit a brothel to do research on the film. The post-war Italy is immersed in poverty and the common people are directionless and destination-less. How poverty makes poor people lose their essential dignity is depicted in the movie poignantly. Ricci and his son Bruno begin to search for the bicycle but Rome is such a big city and police are not of much help. The father and son reach a restaurant, take refreshments and a little wine. The boy gets an opportunity to view the lifestyles of the rich as he sees a family eating plates of pasta and his father tells him "To eat like that, you need a million lira a month at least". After some time, to his great amazement, Ricci happens to see the bicycle thief and pursues him to reach a brothel. An ugly mob gathers, a cop arrives, but he is unable to take any legal action in the absence of the witness, as the complainant Ricci is the only witness. He is frustrated. In the closing sequence of the movie, Ricci is tempted to steal a bicycle himself, and the cycle of theft and poverty continues. Prominent among the Cast are Enzo Stailoa, Enzo Staiola, Lamberto Maggiorani and Lianella Carell. The experiment of introducing non-professional actors and shooting in natural locations is a new experiment and it brings about revised procedures in articulating truth and the ideas that influence the people. It is the demand of the time as well; the film makers face the budgetary constraints in the desperate post-war situation. The studios are devastated; unemployment not only makes the life of the people miserable but impossible to carry on, resulting in suffocating poverty. The experimentation of neo-realist philosophy through this movie has been highly successful. Other Cinematic Characteristics There is a famous scene on and around a bridge over the Tiber. The father, played by Lamberto Maggiorani, who has earlier stuck his son, turns back from his search in fear because he thinks the boy is drowning in the river. So also shooting of the most of the scenes in the movie are filmed i n real locations, without creating artificial and make-believe sets. The director is able to provide the sensitive touch and dealing with the untrained cast has specific advantages. They are ideal raw material for