Home > Terms > English (EN) > The Bicycle Thief

The Bicycle Thief

The Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette), also known as The Bicycle Thief, is a 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Set right after the end of World War II, it depicts an Italy of poverty and desperation. Most of the film takes place against the background of overcrowded city streets, or tenement housing for the poor. There are no professional actors in the film. The man who plays Antonio Ricci was an actual worker in a steel factory. Ricci's wife is played by a woman who in real life was a journalist and the boy cast as Bruno, Ricci's son, was discovered by De Sica playing in the street.

The film tells the story of a poor man searching the streets of Rome for his stolen bicycle, which he needs to be able to work. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Luigi Bartolini and was adapted for the screen by Cesare Zavattini. The film begins on what seems to be Ricci's lucky day: after two years of unemployment, he is finally offered a good government job putting up posters around the city. In order to accept the job, however, he must have a bicycle, and he has recently had to pawn his bicycle in order to feed his family of four. Then, tragically, on Ricci's first day of work, a thief stoles his bicycle. The rest of the film follows Ricci and his son Bruno as they desperately search for the stolen bicycle. At the end of a long day searching, in terrible frustration at his failed efforts to retrieve his bicycle, and desperate to hold on to his job, Ricci himself becomes a bicycle theif. The owner catches him in the act, calls for help, and Ricci is soon apprehended by an angry crowd. Although the owner does not press charges, Ricci is left at the end of the film without a bicycle and without a job.

0
Collect to Blossary

Member comments

You have to log in to post to discussions.

Terms in the News

Billy Morgan

Sports; Snowboarding

The British snowboarder Billy Morgan has landed the sport’s first ever 1800 quadruple cork. The rider, who represented Great Britain in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was in Livigno, Italy, when he achieved the man-oeuvre. It involves flipping four times, while body also spins with five complete rotations on a sideways or downward-facing axis. The trick ...

Marzieh Afkham

Broadcasting & receiving; News

Marzieh Afkham, who is the country’s first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It is not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment has yet to be announced officially. Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Under the last shah’s rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a ...

Weekly Packet

Language; Online services; Slang; Internet

Weekly Packet or "Paquete Semanal" as it is known in Cuba is a term used by Cubans to describe the information that is gathered from the internet outside of Cuba and saved onto hard drives to be transported into Cuba itself. Weekly Packets are then sold to Cuban's without internet access, allowing them to obtain information just days - and sometimes hours - after it ...

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

Banking; Investment banking

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution established to address the need in Asia for infrastructure development. According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia needs $800 billion each year for roads, ports, power plants or other infrastructure projects before 2020. Originally proposed by China in 2013, a signing ...

Spartan

Online services; Internet

Spartan is the codename given to the new Microsoft Windows 10 browser that will replace Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer. The new browser will be built from the ground up and disregard any code from the IE platform. It has a new rendering engine that is built to be compatible with how the web is written today. The name Spartan is named after the ...

Featured Terms

HOSEOKNAM
  • 0

    Terms

  • 42

    Blossaries

  • 11

    Followers

Industry/Domain: Entertainment Category: Games

The Subway Game

Phone as a baton is passed around people by saying a name of the subway station. When someone says out a station which already has been said or when ...

Contributor

Featured blossaries

Notorious Gangs

Category: Other   2 9 Terms

start

Category: Other   1 1 Terms