THE BICYCLE THIEF (LADRI DI BICICLETTE) Classic Film Retrospective

This film is the quintessential example of Italian Neo Realism. With Fascism gone and Italy battered by poverty, neo-realists dealt with issues of poverty because they felt it was one of their country’s most important social issues. A film that shows in postwar Italy, even schlepping movie posters looks good to a jobless man, worth pawning the sheets to get that bike out of hock. And when it’s stolen, he and his little son must take a desperate journey. With its terrific performances by non-professional actors, the film seems documentary in style. It was filmed on location in a monument-less Rome-causing attacks as giving too negative a view of Italy but the awards and critical acclaim that followed showed otherwise. It received a special Academy Award, before there was such an award for foreign films, the Italian Oscar, and the NY Critics’ Prize.

“On just about everybody’s list of the greatest films.” – Pauline Kael, New York Times