A series of questions for IB Film students to consider whilst viewing Bicycle Thieves. Works well in conjunction with Citizen Kane.

1. Italian Neo-Realism
Bicycle Thieves (d. Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
Sunday, February 8, 2009

2. Collaboration:
Cinematography- Carlo Montuori
Screenplay- Cesare Zavattini
Sound- Gino Fiorelli
Original Music- Alessandro Cicognini
Editor- Eraldo Da Roma
Sunday, February 8, 2009

3. Amateur Cast
Authenticity?
Realism?
Truth?
Lack of stars? So what?
Rainstorm- 39mins into the film. Was
this real, if not, does this matter?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

4. Gina Bartoli
& Fausto
Coppi
Fascism v Communism...a
symbolic moment Passing the bidon
Sunday, February 8, 2009

5. Mussolini & Hitler
The Context:
What is the difference
between fascism and
socialism?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

6. Opening (0:00- 5:00mins)
Post war rome...reaction to fascism. How
do we know immediately that the film
enunciation evokes left-wing
sympathy?
Status- who has the power? How do we
know?
Which class is being represented?
(preferred reading- how?)
Unemployment- Echoes of the early 80s
Sunday, February 8, 2009

7. Bicycle Metaphor
Bartoli (Fascist) v Coppi (Communist)
Journey narrative?
Loss of the bike...narrative vehicle (no
pun intended) for quest.
Unusual ‘buddy format.’ Compare to the
narrative devices used in crime genre
films & TV. How would the crime be
resolved?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

8. Father/Son- 14:00
Son cleaning the father’s bike
Bruno- child labour
A series of humiliations?
54mins- striking his son
57mins- Bruno has the moral high
ground? (Check mise en scene)
Lack of childhood?- 1:04:00
Sunday, February 8, 2009

9. Ambiguity- the poster?
18:00mins
Communication of meaning
Rejection of Hollywood
conventions...Rita Hayworth-
Hollywood icon?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

10. Post-War Rome
Bureaucratic incompetency/corruption
(20mins)
Massive queues (22mins)
Crime- systematic (e.g. Illicit Bike
industry)
Reaction to pedophile- ambivalent & de-
sensitised rather than hostile...why?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

11. The setting...
Bleak industrial landscape...potholes,
factories
The ruins of the old city...ancient Rome
The significance of the church;
sheltering with Priests & pursuing the
old beggar - 50mins; Antonio’s lack of
respect for the protocol of church-
changing attitude to Catholic church?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

12. class juxtaposition
1:00:00- Father takes some control back-
challenging the authority of the mother-
his only possible avenue of fighting
back
How are the Middle Classes represented?
1:02:00
Sunday, February 8, 2009

13. Theme of Humiliation
Shamed at the bike market
Shamed in the Church
1:10:00- Antonio has to trespass in a
brothel
1:13:00- Epileptic fit and bringing on
the wrath of a mother
1:20:00- Humiliation leads to widening
gap (spacially) between father and son
Sunday, February 8, 2009

14. Shame...
Bruno witnessing his father being
slapped
Use of bruno to help Antonio avoid police
punishment
Father’s tears- male representation?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

15. Temptation
1:22:00- Recurring motif of bicycle with
pro riders passing by
The mass of cycles or the lone cycle
1:28- end- sense of injustice? Preferred
meaning? How do we read the final shot
and the relationship between father and
son?
Sunday, February 8, 2009

16. The ending...
ʻIndeed, a second viewing of the film might
suggest that this has been the main drama all
along, that Bruno has been “looking after”
Antonio in several senses that point us toward
the filmʼs justly famous final moments, when a
touching gesture of filial solidarity replaces the
class solidarity that De Sica and Zavattini
evidently saw as receding in Italy.ʼ (Godfrey
Cheshire)
Sunday, February 8, 2009