In an age of $400 iPods, $300 iPhones and $200 Nikes, nobody gives a flying f*@# for a bicycle anymore.
Not even a desperate Italian thief.
But there was a time and day in Italy – in the not too distant past – when a bicycle was a big draw for a thief in Italy.
Those were the years following the end of World War II. Italy had ended up on the loser’s side in the second big war.
Both the country and its people were in dire straits. Food and jobs were scarce. And the mood was desolate for most Italians.
This grim setting provides the backdrop for The Bicycle Thief made by acclaimed director Vittorio de Sica in 1948.
The story is simple. Yet so arrestingly moving.
It’s the story of a poor family man Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) in Rome whose wife Maria (Lianell Carell) sells the sheets on the beds in their home to buy a bicycle. You see, one of the key conditions of Antonio’s new job – pasting flyers on the walls – is that he must have a bicycle.
No sooner does Antonio get a used bicycle than he quickly loses it. On the Continue reading »
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