Thursday, March 1, 2018
Bicycle Thieves
Please choose at least two features of neorealism that DeSica presents in the film that effectively convey the overall meaning of the film. Choose one five minute scene and analyze the scene using two cinematic elements of your choice, and one cultural context through which to analyze.
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Bicycle Thieves was produced in 1948, three years after the end of World War Two. Italy was in a weak economic state even before the war, but fear caused the country to shift production to arms and drafting farm workers which caused further shortages. There were also physical damages on the country by the Germans, destroying a lot of the architecture. After the war, Italy faced even more economical difficulties, as represented by Antonio’s desperation to get a job to support his family. The lack of automobiles in Italy at the time, mostly due to Italian companies being sold as well as most of the population not being able to afford fuel, plays a major role in the importance of the bike for Antonio as it is his only form of transportation besides the public bus. The lack of automobiles also explains why Antonio is faced with hundreds of bikes at the end of the film as well as the large market that seemed dedicated to bike parts.
ReplyDeleteTwo features of Italian neorealism that DeSica used are an avoidance of neatly plotted stories in favor of loose, episodic structures that evolve organically, and the use of actual locations and people, rather than actors. By using real people, DeSica was able to portray the real life situation in more of a true to life perspective. Often times the people had faced similar situations, as Lamberto Maggiorani, who played Antonio Ricci, did after the film aired. He was able to treat his family with the money he made with the film, but after returning from a vacation he was laye off as the management thought he had made millions with the film. Real people had the experiences necessary to portray the realistic storyline many neorealist films strive to produce. The on location shooting most likely made filming difficult, however, as with the use of non-actors, it made the film appear more realistic. The action of the background characters, the everyday civilians, appeared much more natural because many of them were going about their day-to-day lives. The plot of Bicycle Thieves appears to come naturally, without the actions of the characters being forced by unbelievable circumstance, Antonio Ricci’s experiences in the film played along naturally, with the monotony of everyday life underneath the fear of losing everything. By utilizing these features of neorealism, DeSica was able to portray the story of Antonio as naturally as possible, removing the artificiality from the film.
The scene I chose begins with Antonio seeing the men leaving work with their bikes and ends with him and Bruno disappearing into a large crowd of people. The first shot of the scene highlights Antonio’s desperation as he is confronted with hundreds of bikes, the one thing he needs to make money for his family, and yet his is still missing. By filling the frame with bikes the audience is able to see how trapped Antonio feels as his desperation grows - the world appears to be mocking his struggle. The cut between the shots of Antonio’s face and the bikes highlights how Antonio is feeling. After the shot of the bike’s Antonio remains in the center of the frame, even as he moves around, signifying how important the bike is to him as a person. As Antonio makes the decision to steal the bike, he remains in the center of the frame, however he appears much smaller and vulnerable, representing his hesitation and desperation battling as he decides that he needs to steal the bike in order to survive. In the same shot, there is a pole separating Antonio from the bike on frame, and separating him from the crime he is eventually forced to commit. When he crosses the pole’s shadow, he crosses the threshold between the life of an honest man, to that of a thief, like the one who ruined his life by taking his bike. As Antonio pedals away we see the frame begin to slowly fill no longer making Antonio the center of attention. The filling of the frame with people also represents how the world has turned against Antonio as he struggles to escape the clutches of the mob. The shot was a long take emphasizing Antonio’s hesitation to take the bike. As he passes his son, the camera immediately focuses on Bruno and remains focused on Bruno for a significant portion of the remaining shots. By focusing on Bruno, DiSica is able to portray Antonio’s humanity slowly dissolving as his desperation forces him to act on need. The camera once again focuses on Antonio when Bruno’s tears and pleas remind him why he was so desperate to find a bike in the first place - his family. The shots during this are also somewhat long takes, making the audience feel the sadness, desperation, and fear Antonio and Bruno feel as Antonio is surrounded by men yelling and hitting him. Eventually Antonio is released, and we see the frame cut from antonio’s face, to Bruno’s face, to the back of their heads. The final cut from Bruno to the crowd implies that the responsibility of making money and caring for the family financially will now be placed on Bruno. As they walk away, they are swallowed by a crowd of people to the point where the audience can no longer distinguish them between the others. The final shot of the film reinforcing the idea that one’s problems are often ignored in the face of the rest of the world, one person doesn’t matter when the problems of everyone else are taken into account.
DeleteBicycle Thieves is a perfect example of Italian neorealism. One instance is the on-location shooting. This is very evident because many of the buildings are partially destroyed because of the war. Throughout the film many of the locations are run-down and dirty which is directly the opposite of the pristine, sugarcoated American films. This helps to establish the postwar setting and truthfully showcase how the Italian people are dealing with the past and rebuilding for the future. Another aspect of neorealism is the focus on the working class. The entire film revolves around a job. The main characters are just trying to get by, again as opposed to Hollywood films that came before where people just messed around without a care in the world. Bicycle Thieves uses on-location shooting and working-class characters in order to make the film more realistic and closer to Italian life at the time.
ReplyDeleteOne scene that can be analyzed through a historical cultural context is the opening scene of the film. Historically, Italy had just recently been liberated only a few years prior to the film’s 1948 release. There was a high presence of communists, especially in the government. During the war, the communists (who were outlawed at the time under the fascist regime) played a large role in the resistance movement. They later became the second largest Italian party following World War II. The prevalence of communism in Italy is reflected through the film’s Marxist themes, using both cinematography and mise-en-scène. Firstly, there is the idea of workers’ solidarity through the image of the men all crowded together when job assignments are being made. This choice of blocking the actors so close together mirrors the communist idea of a united working class. In regard to the cinematography, they fill the open frame, creating an image of a crowd larger than what is being shown, which could implicitly reflect the large communist presence in Italy at this time. Next in the scene, when Antonio and Maria are carrying buckets of water, Maria, who is carrying it, is placed in the scene behind him so she is closer to the camera and larger in the frame. This places a focus on the hard work being done. At this time in Italy the working class had for so long been tossed aside and oppressed during the war. The focus on work in this sequence and film as a whole gave them a voice, which was especially important because they were the ones rebuilding the nation after it had been destroyed.
Vittorio DeSica’s 1949 film Bicycle Thieves is a staple of Italian Neorealism, supported by it’s depiction of the poor and working class, as well as on set filming location. Italian Neorealism was a product of post World War II Italy, and the demise of Benito Mussolini’s government. The country’s film industry lost its focus, and a result Italian directors took great influence from the changing political and economic climate and the physical destruction left by the war. The main premise of the film is of a man focusing on finding work showing the weak economic state during the time. By showing the weighty importance having a job has to Antonio and his family, the troubled conditions of the working class are pushed to the forefront. Since the entirety of the film is shot on location, the camera has no choice but to portray the truth of Italy’s disorder: living alongside the ruins of the past in hopes to build a better future.
ReplyDeleteOne scene of Bicycle Thieves that exemplifies the characteristics of Italian Neorealism is when Antonio goes to collect his job instructions in the beginning of the movie. Through the exploration of cinematography and mise-en-scene, Italy’s economic standpoint from the time is shown. The scene begins by showing Antonio walk across a large yet sparse courtyard and through an angry mob of the unemployed. When he reaches the employer-figure, Antonio is shown through a slight high angle, with the employer in a low angle. This suggests how Antonio and the mass of desperate and out of work men behind them are at a disadvantage, almost like they are begging for an opportunity. In hand, the employer instantly is shown as having all the power, at least within the situation at hand. When filming the group of men complaining and calling out, a medium shot is used to fill the frame. This gives off the impression that there are far more unemployed than those actually on set, emphasizing the economic crisis at the time. The men in this scene are dressed in worn, work clothes and rags to instantly show their need and poverty. When they talk it’s as if they are part of a riot, misplacing their anger to the employer instead of the government. DeSica shows the utter frustration felt by the people as the fault of those in charge who weren’t looking out for the vast, struggling middle class. When Antonio leaves the crowd, he is shown weaving in and out of the people in the crowd until he finally gets out. This shows how he has broken free from the suck of unemployment, and has hopefully been separated away from the pack. By using cinematography and mise-en-scene, DeSica shows the struggle and desperation of the economic climate in a post World War II Italy.
Two features of Italian neorealism seen in Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 film Bicycle Thieves are nonprofessional actors and on-location shooting. In Italian neorealist films, nonprofessional actors were preferred over professional actors to give the films a more documentary feel. Casting ordinary people was advantageous to creating this style because they could draw from their own experiences more than professional actors who were brought in could. While everyone has the ability to draw from experience, those cast in Italian neorealist films actually lived in the area of filming and, of course, the time, so they could personally relate to the situations in the film. The use of nonprofessional actors in this film reflects how ordinary people were affected by the postwar conditions in Italy. On-location shooting also supports the documentary feel of Italian neorealist films. This presents an accurate depiction of the film’s setting that is authentic as opposed to studio-produced artificiality. Also, directors chose to film in their home country instead of somewhere new to represent the people of their home and the struggles that they had to face.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I chose to analyze is when Antonio and Bruno are eating in the fancy restaurant. There is a specific sequence in this scene where shots of Bruno are cut next to shots of an upper-class child. This editing juxtaposes the two as they are shown to be obviously different in terms of class but they are also shown to be similar in the fact that they are both children. The editing here is repetitive, driving the point home. The children are framed separately, highlighting the fact that they are quite literally separate in their different social classes. The upper-class child is shown with a lot of food surrounding him as well as many family members in the background, while Bruno has nothing special around him. The upper-class child is framed to show how he has much more than Bruno. The cultural context that can be examined in relation to this scene is the postwar socio-economic situation in Italy. After the war, the ruling and upper-class took advantage of the shambles the country was left in and seized power and in turn economic and societal standing. The postwar class divisions were more starkly separated than they were before with much less blending, and the gap between the rich and poor was rapidly widening. This aspect of the class system of Italy in 1948 is reflected in how the two boys are represented separately in the aforementioned scene.
Bicycle Thieves” is is an Italian neorealist film, and it features similar traits of other films within the neorealist genre. One of the major features of neorealism that DeSica, the director of the film, employs is the use of “non actors”. Most of the characters in the film, including the main character of the father, are played by every day Italians, rather than well known performers. The use of these people to portray the characters in the film fits into the films theme about the common man just struggling to make it in life. If the filmmakers were to use mainly famous, rich actors it would go against the entire premise of the film. Another major feature of neorealism with in the film is its lack of a happy ending. The neorealist genre was trying to display life as it truly is: difficult, tragic and imperfect. Thus it would not make sense for “Bicycle Thieves” to end neat and happy. Instead the film ends on a rather low note, with the main character failing to accomplish his goal and resigning himself to the hardship of life. These two features help convey the overall meaning of the film, which is that life is a struggle and never ends up the way we necessarily hope or plan.
ReplyDeleteThe final scene of the film follows the main character, Antonio, who, driven by desperation, decides to steal a bike after he cannot find his own. He gets caught and the angry mob wants to haul him off to the authorities. His young son Bruno stands in the middle of the crowd, powerless to help his father. Through the position of the camera the frame is level with Bruno’s head, showing how intimidating the adults are from his perspective as they look over him. By filming him in this way the audience immediately identifies with him and sympathizes with his helplessness. However, the owner of the bike sees the young Bruno and has compassion on him and his father. Instead of pressing charges he decides to let the two go. When you view this scene from a social cultural context you come to see it in a new light. At the time of the film Italy was in ruins and its citizens were bestet with hardship and poverty following the end of World War II. This explains the sheer desperation of the main character to find his bicycle, as it represents his only hope for a job, which in turn will allow him to feed his family. I believe that the part in which the man lets Antonio and Bruno go is the filmmakers way of stressing the need for the common people to be merciful and helpful to each other, instead of thinking only for themselves and those immediately near them. I feel that he is saying that the only way for Italy to heal is through everyday unity between people.
After the two are let go they walk side by side into a large crowd of other as they head home, their heads hung low. Through the direction in this part of the scene we see how the filmmaker is trying to convey how Antonio’s story is just one of countless others, all under the same circumstances. This is shown as they enter the cround of run down people just like themselves. The film leaves us with a resounding sense of heartbreak, yet it is emotionally satisfying nonetheless.
Bicycle Thieves is a film made by Vittorio De Sica in 1948. It is a film that was on the forefront of italian neorealism and was a prime example of what italian neorealism is all about. It follows a man named Antonio Ricci where he finally finds a job and the bicycle he needs for his job gets stolen and we follow Ricci and his son Bruno has they set off to find the bicycle. Two features of neorealism that are very important to the film is the children focus and the on the spot filming as both can help portray the economic problems of italy at this time.
ReplyDeleteAs we see in the opening few minutes we see Bruno has a job and Antonio does not this shows how bad the times were at this point. Also the focus of kids is used to put a harsh contrasting from the hard lives because children are usually always shown as innocent but in this case we see children working just as much as adults. To us in the U.S. nowadays this sight is so almost nauseating to us because we now how harsh the conditions in certain workplaces are and to have a child placed in this setting is revealing to us how the conditions were back then. And the on sight filming is also very important to this film as using the actual sites makes it seem much more realistic of how the times were back then.
Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 film Bicycle Thieves follows the conventions of Italian neorealism, in that it reflects the environment of postwar Italy, a country putting itself together after a horrific fascist rule under Mussolini and the Third Reich. Prior to Italian neorealism, almost all of the films produced in Italy were propaganda films that centered around the life of the upper class. With this in mind, the scene I would like to take a look at the lunch scene. In this scene, Antonio and Bruno take a break from their search of the bicycle and stop in a restaurant for some lunch. There, we see the father foolishly order a full bottle of wine that he knows he cannot afford, all the while Bruno keeps looking back at a family sitting behind them that are members of the upper class. The poor facing the rich. Remember, the propaganda films of the Mussolini era were government funded and had relatively large budgets. The films of the neorealism age were shot on shoestring budgets, using recycling film stock from the 1930s due to none being available. The image of Bruno having a visual standoff with the rich boy represents the two different eras of filmmaking, propaganda era and neorealism. “To eat like them you have to make a million a month”, Antonio says, and goes on to encourage his son to still eat. This is the film saying that even if the filmmakers then do not have the budgets and support that the old era propaganda films had, they can still make movies that are their very own, and not those controlled by a fascist regime. Just like Antonio and Bruno are still able to eat, filmmakers are still able to make their films, even in a time of such hardship and economic ruin.
ReplyDeleteIn the film “Bicycle Thieves” (1948), director Vittorio De Sica portrays multiple aspects that were considered to be part of the movement of “neorealism”. Two of these aspects are filming using non-actors and focusing on middle to lower class people as the subjects of the film. The use of real actors makes the grit and hardship all the more real and effective. Neorealism was a movement of film and literature that focused on portraying things how they really are. A lot of films in the 30s were portraying either high class life through comedy, or fantasy adventures with monsters. Both of these are far from the real truth, and the neorealism movement sought to flip this on its side and show the real world, with real people, living their hard lives. The actor that played Bruno said (translated from italian) “I think De Sica picked me because I was an ordinary person, ordinary like everything else in the film”.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that I want to focus on is the scene in which the main character, Antonio Ricci, has his bike stolen from right underneath his nose. Historically, the 40s were an awful time for Italy. They entered WW2 alongside the Germans. Mussolini was in power and focused on his own personal interests and not that of the common man. Then, after he was assassinated and the war was over, the common man was still getting the short end of the stick. Here, in this scene, we see the common man’s struggle. His problems aren’t heard and nobody seems to care about his struggle and cry for help. Part of this is portrayed through the editing and juxtaposition of shots seen later in the scene.After Antonio finds out he is chasing the wrong man in the car, he walks out of the tunnel and there is a very classic but effective use of shot reverse shot. He is looking out into the crowd, but dissimilar to usual shot reverse shot, nobody is lookings back at him. This heightens his struggle and in the context of the time period, implicitly enforces the idea that this is a time when nobody would listen to your problems. Another way the historical context is portrayed cinematically is through the composition of most of the shots. During the pre-chase and chase, Antonio is rarely the main subject in the frame, and if he is, there is something obscuring him or he is far away in the shot. This puts both distance and physical barriers with him and the audience. As viewers, we take on the role of people watching the crime happen, and the distance and physical barriers limits our ability to try to help. This makes Antonio’s character all the more helpless, just as most middle to lower class people did in 1940’s Italy.
“Bicycle Thieves” (1949) by Vittorio De Sica is a stunning analysis of the class disparity which ran rampant during post World War II Italy. As such, the film can be seen as a representation of Italian Neorealism, which was a movement which applied commentary to the unstable political climate of the time. The film itself depicts a man who is forced to find a secure, well paying job in a time where unemployment rates were high and jobs were few. The job is extremely important to the survival of him and his family, and by accentuating this importance, Antonio’s future desperate actions become justified. In fact, the job he finds requires a bike, and once it is stolen Antonio is sent on a frantic search throughout the city which ends in a sad and hopeless message that life is truly unfair. Furthermore, Desica’s choice to shoot on location adds more credibility to the ruination of society which the film aims to depict, as it shows the true state of Italy at the time.
ReplyDeleteTo express the ideas of Italian Neorealism, De Sica utilizes masterful cinematography and mise-en-scene, with the final desperate act by Antonio fully depicting the true desperation brought on by the time period. As the movie comes to a close, Antonio decides to steal a bike, inflicting the same pain on someone else that was put on him. The difference however exists when he is caught, and he is told that the bike he stole was all the owner had to his name. By creating this exchange, it becomes painfully obvious that it is not just Antonio who is afflicted by the circumstances, but the entirety of Italy. The true emotion behind Antonio’s act is seen through the lens of the camera however, as De Sica cuts to close ups of Antonio’s son who is forced to watch his father commit a crime as well as his father’s humiliation. These close ups feature a boy wrought with emotion, showing that the desperation of the country is even negatively affecting the innocent youth. To further express the widespread impoverishment, Antonio features filthy, worn out clothes, much like the average mob of people seen within the scene. Because almost every person walking the streets is clothed in tatters, it can be truly seen that everyone is struggling to make ends meet.
In "Bicycle Thieves" by Vittorio De Sica, Italian neorealism is present throughout the film in different ways. The fact that the protagonist is just a normal guy who is trying to earn a living for his family is an important feature of Italian neorealism. Another aspect of Italian neorealism seen throughout the duration of the film is the use of random people as actors. No one on screen is an actor that people know off the top of their heads and most of them are acting for there first time on the big screen. This feature is very common during this Italian neorealism period. These two aspects contribute to the film as a whole in a way that makes us the audience relate to the protagonist as he is similar to us as everyday normal people.
ReplyDeleteTwo cinematic elements in my five minute scene are mise-en-scene and cinematography. The final scene where our main character tries to steal a bike is perfectly captured with suspense of his upcoming fate. Their is a shot where all the pedestrians are getting on there bikes in a bundle, while he just sits there and watches them all use what was just stolen from him. This symbolizes how life is unfair in this world. Another shot that is captured well is the shot where our protagonist is in the middle of an open space with nobody around, ready to steal this random bike, and as suspense is rising, the frame is large and empty, but as soon as the bike is being stolen, everybody finds out and chases him as the camera stays in one place and he rides down an alley. A good display of the mise-en-scene in this scene is how everybody is about work and earning a living for there families. Everybody is walking somewhere or working and they are all wearing dress shirts and jackets as if they are going to work. This perfectly captures the everyday life displayed in Italian neorealism.
Bicycle Thieves (1948, dir. Vittorio De Sica) is a staple of the Italian neorealism movement. De Sica wanted to emphasize the reality of Italy’s post-war state, as opposed to ignoring the troubles of the people, particularly the working class. De Sica did this through the use of multiple neorealism techniques - for example, narrative structure. One of the complaints neorealist creators had regarding narrative structure of “Hollywood” movies was that characters were limited by one particular storyline. In opposition of this, many neorealist films focused on the characters’ reactions to the situations they were placed in, allowing the plot to progress in a more organic manner, as is the case with Bicycle Thieves. This, in turn, made it more natural to watch. Another technique used was to have the actual filming of the movie be as realistic as possible - everything was shot on location and the people cast were not trained as actors. This served to immerse the viewers in the world of the film, as the world that the film portrays is as close to the real world as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that I chose to analyze is the scene where Antonio’s bike is stolen. It is vital to understand the historical context of the film to understand this scene. Post World War 2, Italy’s economy was suffering, as Italy was still recovering from the poor economy it had under fascist rulers, and there were many necessary post-war reparations to be made. Jobs were few and far between, so many people were forced to turn to criminal activity to make do. In particular, people would steal bicycles, sometimes to hold their own jobs, but mostly to dismantle and sell the parts in marketplaces. In terms of cinematic analysis, this scene can be best understood through the analyzation of framing and sound design. The scene opens with a focus on the poster that Antonio is hanging up, dolly zooming out a bit to show some of the people behind him, but still showing us that Antonio is fully invested in his work and not considering the environment around him. There is then a cut to a medium long shot of some of the people who have just walked by him, looking at his bicycle, indicating that, while Antonio is focusing on something else, people may take advantage of that. This is emphasized as, while this shot continues, a man doubles back, more clearly eyeing the bicycle. There is a cut to a medium shot of a boy shifting and hiding to look at something, whose body is partially covered by a car, creating closed framing and indicating that he is also looking at the bicycle. During these shots, there is minimal sound, just simple background noises like footsteps, the bus, and a few car horns, further adding to the realism of the film and the fact that Antonio is not paying special attention to the environment around him. There is a cut from Antonio, still working, back to the boy, who walks out from behind the car to interact with the other man eyeing up Antonio’s bicycle. The framing is still closed, now in more of a medium long shot, indicating that these men are associated and likely going to steal the bike. Here, the natural, minimal sound effects serve to heighten suspense. There is another cut between Antonio and the boy, except the next cut on the boy shows him stealing the bike. There is a cut back to Antonio, now facing the camera, and more prominently centered in frame, showing that he has immersed himself in real life. His shouting of “Thief!” is distinctly louder than any of the other sounds, drawing attention to the intensity of the situation.
As he runs to go catch the boy and bumps into the other man, he grows smaller in frame, showing that it is unlikely he will actually catch up. This is reaffirmed by the two shots of the boy that follow, one slight low angle that shows him growing larger in frame as he rides the bike, and one slight high angle that, while he does grow smaller in frame in it, still frames him larger than Antonio was chasing after him. Here, lack of intense sound effects or music shows that, though this is a very upsetting and drastic event in Antonio’s life, it is nowhere far from commonplace, and will go largely unnoticed by most people.
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