The Bicycle Thief
"The Bicycle Thief" is a deeply moving neo-realist study of post-War
Italy which depicts one man's loss of faith and his struggle to maintain
personal dignity in poverty and bureaucratic indifference. Antonio Ricci is a
bill-poster whose bicycle, essential for his job, is stolen by a thief. Joined
by his son Bruno, Antonio vainly searches for his bike, eventually resorting to
the humiliation of theft himself. Throughout this paper, I will attempt to
trace the character through "The Bicycle Thief." The film opens with a montage
of early morning urban activities ending on a crowd of unemployed laborers
clamoring for work. Sitting to the side is Antonio Ricci. Beaten down by
despair, he has lost the energy to fight. His spirits are lifted, however,
when his name is called out for a job. Invigorated, he damns poverty. His joy
however, is fleeting, employment depends on one condition -- that he owns
a bicycle. To provide for his family, Antonio long ago pawned his bicycle
and now, in one day, he raise the price of the pawn ticket. Not knowing
where he will get the money, he turns to his wife Maria. In their stark home,
the only thing left to pawn is a remnant of her dowry and the family's last
vestige of comfort -- the bed sheets. Bravely, Maria strips the bed and
begins to wash the linens. At the pawn shop, it becomes evident that the
Ricci's misery is not unique. Their sheets are added to a mountain of small
white bundles, and Antonio reclaims his bicycle from the rack of hundreds
like it.
Delighted by the prospect of a good fortune, the couple happily ride
away. Antonio pi...
... middle of paper ...
...easing tendency to see his own culture
(India) or other cultures, i.e. European, Spanish, Asian, etc., in highly
conservative terms, for purposes of preserving them from the "pollution" of
western ideas and thought. He was also willing to enjoy and to learn from
ideas, art forms and styles of life from anywhere, in India or abroad. Ray
heterogeneity within local communities. This perception contrasts sharply with
the tendency of many communitarians, religious and secular, who are willing to
break up the nation into communities and then stop dead there: "Thus far and no
further." The great film maker's eagerness to seek the larger unit - - to talk
to the whole world - - went well with his enthusiasm for understanding the
smallest of the small, i.e. the individuality, ultimately, of each person.
(Mamartya, p, 27)
...t have an ultimate goal to express something they care about on film. They must not only express this in their script, but carry through on it by directing, producing and pulling together many other aspects of the film by themselves. Three filmmakers that fit this description to a “t” are Kevin Smith, Spike Lee and Alfred Hitchcock. These three men all went out with the same goal: To express their views of life in extraordinary films. They all went above and beyond their call of duty and are now ranked among the top filmmakers of history, the rank of film auteurs.
In another budgetary adaptation, the film crew, lacking the funds for cranes and dollies to do moving and panning shots, quickly switched between multiple shots for dynamic dialog, giving a certain frenzied feel to the dialog interactions (Hervey 38). The style this lends to th...
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
and only daughter Dandan. Driven by estrangement from her father and a desire of a leading
Death, narrator of this story, keeps us entirely focused on mortality. Death himself has nothing to do with why people die. He only exists because people die. He has the job of separating the deads souls from their bodies and carrying those souls away to the . Death lets us know from the beginning that this is a very sad and tragic story. But then again this story is set during WWII and the Holocaust, we witness the deaths of many innocent and not so innocent people, which is to be expected in a book about this time period. Death tells us that most of the characters we will begin to love will die by the end of the book. There are very few who do survive in the end of this tragic tale. Which is a very realistic happenstance back then.
Reading a book is in many ways the same as exercising the muscles in your arm, as you are feeding your brain new information and ideas of life. Life is short and I believe that you should always be positive and do the things that you want without people telling you that you are wrong. The following Novels have taught me various aspects, which I have and still am using to make my life a memorable one as well as a positive one.
...eing of pure Aryan descent was a survival tactic, he had “…Beautiful blond hair and big, safe blue eyes.” Liesel’s eyes are not just brown. She had “…dangerous eyes. Dark brown. You didn’t really want brown eyes in Germany around that time.”
War is an inevitable struggle that humanity constantly faces. It is best described by the words of Bertrand Russell, an English philosopher; “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” There are many consequences of war, such as economic, developmental and security: however an important one is humanitarian, more specifically, the psychological effect that war and violence impacts on the population. In most literature, the protagonist in a war event is often depicted as an older individual, one who is in their adult years, and their journey through the event. Nevertheless in Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief both of the protagonists are both considerably younger than
Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief. Since the beginning of its existence as a country, Italy has faced enormous challenges in establishing itself as a unified political and social entity. The geographic, economic, and linguistic differences between its various regions and the artificial manner in which they were amalgamated created a legacy of internal divisions that continues to dominate the country's political climate to this day. Italy's numerous historical fiascoes, such as its disastrous involvement in the two World Wars and the rise of fascism, further escalated the domestic problems that had haunted it since the Risorgimento.
As time and people are continually changing, so is knowledge and information; and in the film industry there are inevitable technological advances necessary to keep the attraction of the public. It is through graphic effects, sounds and visual recordings that all individuals see how we have evolved to present day digital technology; and it is because of the efforts and ideas of the first and latest great innovators of the twentieth century that we have advanced in film and computers.
Bicycle Thieves is considered an example of Italian Neo-realism. The plot demonstrates Italians of the working class in Italy and unfolds their day to day lives. One could argue it portray the reality and develops into an emotional storyline towards the end. Antonio, the main character is offered a job requiring a bicycle and on his first day it was stolen on the streets. You immediately feel drawn to the character as you want to see a happy ending. Watching the film, automatically feel sorry for him as he’s got no money and needs to make a living as soon as possible for his wife with two children to support. From the close ups and observational shots it clearly shows he is desperate as Antonio and his son Bruno go around searching for it for hours. The opening sequence uses the conventions of documentary to introduce the film giving an impression of realism and authenticity, which attracted me to the film instantly. These shots were used to capture realism. The function of this scene is to illustrate the nature of surrounding and an insight of Italy at this time.
As time evolves, so do the words that are essential for our everyday survival. The most obvious difference between humans and animals is our ability to master the art of speech. Often, people will say the “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, a simple nursery rhyme that helps ease a bullied child from abusive words and taunts. But does that really help cure the emotional pain? Words can illuminate and motivate the minds of people but can also shadow their self-esteem through psychological trauma. In The Book Thief, we see how fundamental words were to shape the reality of millions of people caught in the fire of World War II.
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.
The motion picture, created by Sangeeta Ahir, appears to have been increased in value by numerous individuals who have seen its surges. The group as of late had the attention shoot and from what we listen, Sanford Pan itch, the Hollywood official of Fox Star Studios
‘Then came the films’; writes the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, evoking the arrival of a powerful new art form at the end of 19th century. By this statement, he tried to explain that films were not just another visual medium, but it has a clear differentiation from all previous mediums of visual culture.