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My choice for the JULY edition (Nr 7 of 12) of the #HumpdayAndChill event, hosted by
Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette ), also known as The Bicycle Thief , a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica . It follows the heartbreaking story of an unemployed father searching for his stolen bicycle, which gives him his only chance of work to save his young family, in post-World War II Rome.
It is a tale of survival and the limited choices available to people in difficult circumstances – do the decent thing or desperately cross a moral line, however uncomfortable. What would you do?
Cesare Zavattini ’s screenplay, adapted from Luigi Bartolini ’s 1946 novel, stars Lamberto Maggiorani as the desperate father and Enzo Staiola as his young son. While Alfred Hitchcock said “cinema is real life with the boring bits cut out,” for Zavattini ordinary details matter and “cinema is the boring bits.”
In the end, worn-out and afraid of not even securing basic work, the father himself steals a bike. The son sees his father’s theft.
Pre-war stories were chains of cause-and-effect, but the trauma of war made cinema more daring. Italian neorealism sometimes broke the chain with some events and moments not playing into the plot and left as loose ends to make the viewer think. Italian neorealism was a national movement by the 1940s, then swept around the world.
Not only is this film's cinematography superb, cinema that prompts viewers to ponder "What if?" "What next?" "Why?" "What might happen?" is stimulating, IMHO, and usually found away from Hollywood. Bicycle Thieves is considered Zavattini's greatest work. Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette ), also known as The Bicycle Thief , a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica . It follows the heartbreaking story of an unemployed father searching for his stolen bicycle, which gives him his only chance of work to save his young family, in post-World War II Rome.
It is a tale of survival and the limited choices available to people in difficult circumstances – do the decent thing or desperately cross a moral line, however uncomfortable. What would you do?
Cesare Zavattini ’s screenplay, adapted from Luigi Bartolini ’s 1946 novel, stars Lamberto Maggiorani as the desperate father and Enzo Staiola as his young son. While Alfred Hitchcock said “cinema is real life with the boring bits cut out,” for Zavattini ordinary details matter and “cinema is the boring bits.”
In the end, worn-out and afraid of not even securing basic work, the father himself steals a bike. The son sees his father’s theft.
Pre-war stories were chains of cause-and-effect, but the trauma of war made cinema more daring. Italian neorealism sometimes broke the chain with some events and moments not playing into the plot and left as loose ends to make the viewer think. Italian neorealism was a national movement by the 1940s, then swept around the world.
Not only is this film's cinematography superb, cinema that prompts viewers to ponder "What if?" "What next?" "Why?" "What might happen?" is stimulating, IMHO, and usually found away from Hollywood. Bicycle Thieves is considered Zavattini's greatest work. Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
| 139,000 mlx | |
| 29 | |
| 18 |
