Revisiting The Bicycle Thief, I really was reminded why this is one of my favorite films of all time. I watched this classic neorealist film a long time ago, way before I even knew what neorealism was and it was the images that stuck with me, which I’m going to share:
Please look at these photos and tell me there’s not something refreshing about the way it looks. I’m usually not a fan of when people say that the setting of the film is an extra character in the film, but in The Bicycle Thief Rome really is a character and a great, multi-layered one at that. As we follow father and son in the simple yet timeless tale of a man losing the classic symbol of a bicycle, which is needed for his job and to provide a stable income for his wife and child get stripped of that by some thief it’s astounding to watch as he perseveres through so much that Rome, the primary antagonist of the film, throws at him and his young son who tags along and provides a sort of superego to his ego (or sometimes an ego to his superego), there is just really something touching about that nature of perseverance. Rome works in mysterious ways, always trying and picking at the man before he finally hits his breaking point, throwing citizens and terrain and buildings and walls at him as challenges that could match any of the great supervillains (Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter be afraid, Rome’s coming out for you!). But somehow in the sweet melancholy of the film there’s still the feeling of dread that never seems to go away as there always is in life no matter how ready or prepared or happy you feel, something else is always coming for you just around the corner, for The Bicycle Thief, the corners of Rome.
Rome was a great setting for the movie. It is a vast and expansive area full of hundreds of beguiling people. The thing about the Rome in Bicycle Thief is that we are never shown the same place twice. (Except for the psychics house). We are essentially taken on a tour of the city, and shown all it's parts, from the crowded streets, to the workers union, to a poor mans home, to a police station, to a fancy restaurant, to a church, and to a river. We are shown every aspect of the city, and it is presented to us the same way it is seen by Ricci. The church and police station are not fancy or glorified, because they were of little help to him. The restaurant was fancy because Ricci saw it as a place where the wealthy go, and thus the building came to visualize what he considered to be wealth.
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