Analysis of Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves - Movie Review Example

Question: How is character related to the physical and/or social environment in one of the films above? How can the relationship be described as ‘Neorealist’? Vittorio De Sicas Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) is considered the representative work of Italian neoclassical cinema. Recent culture studies critics consider such representations that create the only reality in its spatial and temporal aspects as a restriction in the aesthetic realm. Andre Bazin’s critical formulations and responses related to the movies of the 1940s explore the ways in which pure objective realism and spatial realism contrast with the earlier preoccupations of the 1920s and the 1930s with the Imagist movies that adhered to the concepts of the Plastics and the Montagists. De Sicca’s style is essentially of pure cinema, but the significance given to mise-en scene quite similar to a documentary is in fact contrived, for aesthetic purposes. The character depiction of the protagonists forms the central part of the movie, even as the events unfurl in quick successions. Many sequences of the movie are perhaps interchangeable, but the entire effect created in the movie is very much indebted to the single events that serve the purpose of exposition and the construction of ideological stances. The theme of a workman (Antonio) and his small son (Bruno) searching for a stolen bicycle in the post-war Italy stricken with unemployment and poverty calls for substantial ideological space than technological gimmicks. The major shift in the story and the denouement, as the disheartened workman ends up stealing a bicycle in a weak moment and is caught, brings in a moral question. The son has to witness his heretofore adorable father’s downfall and come to terms with the fact that he is a mere human being, susceptible to the disappointments and temptations of life. De Sicca interweaves the immediate surroundings of Italian life that is captured in his frames to recreate the Post-War Industrial scenario of poverty and contrasts in life standards. Attempts at verisimilitude are successful as long as the movie maintains a balance between the characters and their surroundings. There are many sequences in the movie that are examples of the way the story has gained more meaning by the accidental events that formed a significant part of the spectacle. The scene in which the workman and the son seeks shelter from the rain and are being surrounded by the insensible young seminarians chattering, the scene inside the church, the scene in which the boy runs in front of a vehicle and has to stop as his father moves ahead unawares – all these are sufficient to prove that Bicycle Thieves is pure cinema, incorporating the real events into the fictional real of it. The fact that none of the actors had the slightest experience in theatre or film and none of the shots were shot in a studio but in the streets makes it clear how De Sicca tries to adhere the characters’ psyche to the time and space they inhabit. However, many such sequences show a more contrived aspect of the story, even as they depict the possibilities of depth of focus scenes and natural sounds (which Bazin has seemingly ignored, to some extent, in his analyses). One such sequence comprises the scenes after the search in the cathedral. Antonio and Bruno have a verbal quarrel, Antonio boxes Bruno’s ears, and Bruno sulks. Antonio asks Bruno to wait over the big bridge while he searches for the thief near the river. Antonio hears a commotion under the bridge and fear that Bruno has drowned, but finds to his relief that it was another boy who drowned. When he discovers Bruno over the bridge, Antonio feels sorry for hurting him and as compensation, asks him to take rest and even offers to buy him a pizza. They go inside a restaurant where they spend some time joyfully, trying to put behind their worries, but they finally remember how significant the lost bicycle is in their life and resume the chase. The scenes that comprise this sequence are shot in the streets, near the river, the sidewalk and inside the restaurant. This explains how the movie tries to replicate reality (or a semblance of it) in circumstances that are not artificial. The scenes mentioned above make use of depth of field photography, which provides more imaginative space for the viewer. There are people and events outside the story that got trapped into the scenes. And since the movie was about the times in which it was shot, all these external interventions merge well into the story and even contributes meaning to it. The shouting from under the bridge is filled with real voices in times of an accident. It is similar to the sounds in the preceding scene inside the cathedral, where the prayers fill the background. Donato Totaro, in the essay titled “André Bazin: Part 1, Film Style Theory in its Historical Context” points out that Bazin has underscored the role played by sound in to the effect of realism, even as he realized how significant a step it was to switch from the silent era to the movies with sound: Bazin overlooks just how important a psychological role sound played in achieving the impression of reality, and the impression of space and depth that were so important to him. Sound added immensely to realism in cinema but Bazin, perhaps so as not to interfere with his spatial/temporal claim, downplays it. Bicycle Thieves makes use of even the tonal variations of sound to good effect. Though the singers in the restaurant fill in the background with their songs, the voices of Antonio and Bruno are distinct when they talk. Even as the whole restaurant scene looks like a real scene captured in the camera, the use of sound, along with the precision of events makes it clear that the director has in fact simulated it. The song bits addressed to Antonio and Bruno are in fact well-planned. The scene in which Bruno sulks and walks away from Antonio makes good effect of depth of field photography. This lets the viewers focus on the object of their choice or even to contemplate on the aesthetic effect which the merging of the two characters’ gait and steps creates. The scene of commotion under the bridge is also predominantly a deep focus one. It is the context that leads the viewers’ eyes to the object (a boy) that is retrieved from the river. It is Antonio’s perspective that the viewers follow in this scene, as the whole purpose of it is to create suspense and tension so as to relieve us in the end when it is shown that the drowned boy is not Bruno. Bazin’s famous observation (in his book What is Cinema?) of a few scenes in the film Where No Vultures Fly shows how much he values the authenticity that a real scene provides. The montage used in the film shows a child and a lioness in separate shots but Bazin observes that the director has to abandon the separate shots and show the parents, child and lioness together in a full shot to gain authenticity, in contrast to the element of trickery involved in the separate shots. In the Bicycle Thieves, the walk under the trees takes us suddenly from the commotion, but the sights of the bridge and the river create a spatial continuance. A group of people pass by Antonio and Bruno in a vehicle with the banner ‘Forza Modena’, and a soldier and his lover go near the wall and look at the sea as they are deciding to leave the place for the restaurant. When they enter the restaurant the inside shot reveals it as a place filled with people, bearers and a band of singers. From the open door, a horse’s head is visible outside. All these are not necessarily part of the story, but add to the realistic flavor, which cannot possibly be achieved in studio settings. This validates Bazin’s preference for long shots over editing and montage, as the events are better contextualized in deep focus long shots. There are of course some close up shots that focus on the reactions of Antonio and Bruno, but none of the scenes are shot apart and put in juxtaposition. The whole restaurant scene is full of possibilities with the expressions and sounds made by other customers, the bearers, the singers and the protagonists. None of the realistic quality is lost in the deep focus cinematography used there. Many fragments of Italian life standards are revealed in the movie. It starts with the scene of an industrial work place where numerous unemployed people are waiting for some sort of work that has to be allotted by government officials. Antonio gets the job of sticking posters, but under the condition that he has a bicycle. The very situation reveals how the choices he has in life are intricately linked to his social circumstances. The shots of his dilapidated house and the place where he gets his humble bicycle reveal the extent of poverty that surrounds him. The entire theme of the movie is related to the necessity of having the bicycle. Without the bicycle, Antonio is doomed. The despair which ensues after his bicycle is stolen and the extent to which he compromises on his convictions and even belittles himself in front of son are necessitated by the social reality in which he is trapped. Bruno’s sense of responsibility and courage is apt to surprise audiences. But the fact that he was also an employed member of the family explains this. He considers it his responsibility to be useful to the family in whatever way possible. At times, he is more diligent and concerned than Antonio in their search for the bicycle. His reactions to various life situations are revealed cleverly in the movie. Art the fortune teller woman’s house, he tries to push his way through the crowd, and urges Antonio to break the queue in order to save the time. He is impatient to resume their search for the cycle, and is in fact not fully aware why his father got into the fortune teller’s house. Antonio himself was against the idea of his wife spending hard-earned money at the fortune teller’s, but he resorts to it at his moment of sheer desperation. This incident shows how Bruno and Antonio fight through the hopelessness of their life in their own ways. The scenes in the cathedral show a cross section of the Italian life. There is rationed food for people, and many are there to get a part of it. The old man whom they suspect is fragile and hapless. The boy whom they suspect has a family which is in a worse state than Antonio’s. Even as we empathize with the plight of Antonio and Bruno, the question of good and evil is apt to bother us. There are shades of grey that blur one’s vision. But the end of the movie brings it all back in perspective. We realize in shock that Antonio himself has turned into a thief, because there was no other way to survive. The gentleman whose bicycle he steals does not charge a him, touched by Bruno’s helplessness and imploring tears. The movie can be a learning experience for anyone who cares for a deeper understanding of the social circumstances that define human psyche. If one tries to relate to the painful realization Bruno has as he lends his little helping hand to Antonio and the sense of shame and complete submission to fate revealed through Antonio’s tears, Bicycle Thieves could be an enlightening experience with regard to a man’s place in his society. De Sicca succeeds in establishing the interrelatedness of man’s motives and character with the physical and social environment with the help of a judicious use of Neorealist tools. Warren Buckland points in Teach Yourself: Film Studies out that “Bazin understood that the filmed event (whether staged or not) dominates, as is evident in the use of the long take to allow the event to unfold uninterrupted” (p.25). The entire structure of De Sicca’s Bicycle Thieves is based on this basic precept. Making a judicious use of the technical advancements in the sound and moving picture recording of the times, the movie holds back from unnecessary use of close-up shots, editing and montage. Even as the story is filled with idealistic and moral overtones, it creates an impression that the camera just follows the protagonists through the streets, capturing the events that just take place. The strong script behind the scenes is hidden effectively in this make-belief realism. The real events outside the script that take place in front of the camera are cleverly interwoven to the plot. It adds more meaning to the movie since the story deals with the time and space (post-War industrial Italy) in which it is screened. Many sequences in the movie make use of all these elements in an understated manner and exhibit De Sicca’s mastery of craft and form that has made it the most representative among Italian Neorealist movies. It reiterates the relationship between not just the text and context, but also the character and the context. References Buckland, Warren. Teach Yourself: Film Studies. London: Hodder and Stoughton Educational, 2003. Totaro, Donato. “André Bazin: Part 1, Film Style Theory in its Historical Context”. November 15, 2007. Read More