Amazon.com Essentials:
Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and
survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special
Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome,
De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame
his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema
posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor
to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible
search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real
street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian
neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery,
and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness
the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet,
poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals
Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances
carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini
also collaborated on Shoesine, Miracle in Milan,
and Umberto D,
all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the
simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle
Thief. --Sean Axmaker
