International Neo-Realism: The Bicycle Thief

     I watched The Bicycle Thief  by Vittorio De Sica. The film was about  a man named Antonio Ricci who was unemployed, and the head of the unemployment office called him and told him he got a good city job for him, but he had to have a bike. Ricci said he had a bike, but it was broken. The man demanded that he have a bike by the end of the day, or the job would go to someone else. So Maria Ricci, Antonio's wife, took his sheets and sold them to get money, then they went to a pawn shop and bought Ricci a bike. Ricci went down to his new job, bike in hand, and was told that he started work the next morning. The next morning, Ricci was told how to do the job, and he went off to do it on his own. He was hanging up his first poster when a young man came up and stole his bike. Ricci chased him, but lost where he had gone. The rest of the movie is Ricci and his son looking for his bike, which they never find. Instead, Ricci decides to steal a bike, but he is seen stealing the bike and beaten and humiliated in front of his son, but the owner of the bike decided not to press charges against him.      International Neorealism began in Italy right after World War II ended. Neorealistic films were usually about the economy of Italy after the war, typically included story lines about the working class, and were shot on location, which is why The Bicycle Thief fits perfectly under this umbrella. Some neorealistic films had non-professional actors, but not all of them. Poetry and cruelty of life were combined and portrayed throughout The Bicycle Thief, as the movie did not have a happy ending. Ossessione by Luchino Visconti (1943) was the first film described as neorealistic. This film angered the Fascists and was banned in the Fascist-controlled parts of Italy. Neorealism was big after the war and was extremely influential on the international level, however, it only made up a small percentage of films produced in Italy. Italians were more interested in comedies to take their minds off of the war and economy. Mario Camerini's What Scoundrels Men Are! was the first film shot entirely on location in 1932, which starred Vittorio De Sica. Other neorealistic monumental films include  Umberto D by Vittorio De Sica, Two Women by Vittorio De Sica (Sophia Loren won an Oscar for), Federico Fellini's La Strada, and many more. Umberto D was considered the end of neorealistic movement, but the other two films made later are considered part of the genre.