November 12–19, 1998

movie shorts

The Bicycle Thief

recommended

The title of Vittorio De Sica's 1948 neorealist masterpiece has been consistently mistranslated in the U.S. for a half-century: the Italian, Ladri di Biciclette, translates as Bicycle Thieves, not The Bicycle Thief. A niggling point, it might seem, but in fact it's key to understanding the film's methods and its purpose. The mistranslation is easy enough to understand: the title is, at first, a reference to only one man, the unnamed figure who robs Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) of his bicycle and therefore of his job and the only chance to support his family. But by the film's end, the film forces us to acknowledge that desperate times can make any man a thief, and that the world is full of those who, under the right circumstances, will take from others to provide for their families. As Ricci and his son (Enzo Staiola) scour the city looking for his bicycle, their journey becomes an odyssey of post-war Italian poverty, and the camera constantly reminds us that Ricci is just one of thousands in the same predicament. De Sica was celebrated for using nonactors and wanting to "de-romanticize the cinema", but really the film is a triumph of sentiment, a simple story whose strength turns it into an allegory for its time and any other.

—Sam Adams