The Bicycle Thief
1 When in talks about the most influential movement in film history, many would point out that Italian Neorealism has created a great impact of it’s own in the 1940s. Post‐World War II in Italy birthed a lot of films that supported this national movement. This essay aims to explore the themes and the mis‐en‐scene of the film “The Bicycle Thief” by Vittorio De Sica and how it serves as an unforgettable representative of the neorealism genre. With regards to it’s mise‐en‐scene, “The Bicycle Thief” represented every aspect of the movement, from casting non‐actors for the main roles, filming on‐ location in run‐down cities and having characters that are expressing oppression and injustice. In the film, Lamberto Maggiorani played the role of Antonio Ricci, a father who goes on a search around Rome with his son, Bruno, played by Enzo Staiola, to find his stolen bicycle. The bicycle, being the source of Ricci’s family’s livelihood, is a symbol of Ricci’s dignity as a man and a form of proof that he is capable of feeding his own family. The bicycle also serves as a social commentary on the continuous cycle of poverty and hardship that the poor and working class in the community experienced during post‐World War II. Capturing the essence of a neorealism film, “The Bicycle Thief” managed to put to light an incident in a daily worker’s life. Very much different from the Hollywood style of entertainment, this neoralistic film deals a lot with social issues. In fact, one of the apparent themes in this film is family. The plight that Ricci got himself into brought a lot of emotion and understanding for the audience who will be able to identify with the issue of desperation. Ricci was desperate, as simple as that. He was desperate to find his bicycle in order to keep a job and support his family, in a community where jobs are scarce and every other poor family is in the same position. This brings us deeper into the family theme, where somewhere at the