Bicycle Thieves is an Italian film, known as Ladri di biciclette.  It directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948, screenplay by Cesare Zavattini from a novel, written by Luigi Bartolini, starring with Lamberto Maggiorani as father and Enzo Staiola as son. The film is widely regarded as a masterpiece of Italian Neorealism, which we will discuss about later.

Italian Neorealism is a national film movement, came about as World War II ended, the Nazi economy was eliminated, causing the Italian film industry to lose its centre. In 1922, Italian cinema was used as a form of propaganda, educating Italians with documentaries and newsreels.  The period between 1943 and 1950 of Italian cinema is dominated by impact of neorealisam, defined as a trend in Italian film. Cesare Zavattini was the founder of neorealism in 1942; he use real people and locations to suggest a new form of Italian Cinema that abolishes contrived and planned plots, to make sure the direct contact is established with contemporary social reality. Contemporary social reality means that unconditional emphasis on the ordinariness of today. Neorealism films are generally filmed with non professional actors, while well-known actors are cast in leading roles, a mixture of professional actors and non-actors. The films were mostly shot on location – in rundown cities or rural areas due to the ruins of the post war era. Neorealism films are mostly exploring the poor and the lower working class, with constructed from scenes of people doing the fairly mundane and quotidian activities to show the socially conscious and humanistic point of view. It referred to contemporary national experience. Neorealism used grainy film stock, giving it newsreel look. Some of the films possess melodramatic aspects, and it motivated to rebuild national reputation.

Here will be the synopsis of Bicycle Thieves. A desperate father, Ricci just had a job, for poster billing. Yet, the job requires him to own a bicycle. After knowing the matter, his wife, Maria decides to sell their bed sheet as it is the best they had. Finally, they have enough money to buy a bicycle. They thought their life will get better, something happens to crash their dream. When he starts his work – poster billing, he places his bicycle beside him. There are some thieves stole his bicycle, and he failed to chase the thieves. He tried in every ways to find his bicycle – report to police, ask for his friend’s help. Days after days, he still cannot find his bicycle. One day, he sees rows of bicycles await their owners. He resumes pacing, anguished and agitated, and finally jumps on an unattended bicycle. Yet, unlike the thieves who stole his bicycle, he had been catch in the act. The bicycle owner notices his son. Bruno, in a moment of compassion he tells others to release Ricci.

Now we will analysis about Italian Neorealism in Bicycle Thieves. The film is mostly shot on location, in the ruins of the post-war era because the World War II has just ended. We can see this from Ricci walks back to home, and the area is newly development. After that, the wife took water from a ruined well. The stadium was shot on the spot with no involvement actors. Apart from that, the buildings were half in ruins and some were newly developed. Most of the outdoor scenes had the traces left after the World War II.

Another thing is, the mixture of professional actors and non professional actors.  Surprisingly, the only professional actor is the guy who gave the job to main actor in the beginning scene, and rest are social actors untrained.

Next, the socially consciousness and humanistic point of view. It is a story that details the hardships of working class life after the war. After few days for finding the main actor’s bicycle, he get struggle and frustrated when seeing rows of bicycles waiting for the owners. It showed in the part when the main actor was hesitating to steal bicycle as bicycle is the main tool for his job. He has to get back a bicycle, so that he can raise his children. The close up on the face is showing the humanistic of the character.

Careless and useless are also one of the elements in the genre of Italian Neorealism. It shows in the beginning of the scene, when the wife is carrying two heavy bucket of water, the main actor did not help to care but only realise after seeing his wife try to get down a slope. When the wife had to pawn the bed sheets, and the main actor did not bother to help and carry the bucket. He should place his bicycle nearer to him, and make himself get cautions on everything. After his bicycle got stole, he asks people to help him find the bicycle.

In mostly the whole film, they used grainy film stock, to show and provide the newsreel look. 

In conclusion, it was not a dull film for me. When the bicycle got stole and it is just happening in front of the protagonist, somehow I can feel his anger. It was a hard time for him to get a bicycle. It's just like you try to get something badly, and finally achieve it, but everything disappoint you in the end.