A BEAUTIFUL, SIMPLE STORY OF MAN IN POST-WAR ROME WHO NEEDS HIS BICYCLE IN ORDER TO WORK AT HIS JOB. NO SOONER DOES HE RETRIEVE IT FROM PAWN, THEN IT IS STOLEN. THE HEARTWRENCHING SEARCH TEACHES THE MAN AND HIS SON MUCH ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE AND JUST HOW FAR WE WILL GO WHEN PUSHED TO THE EDGE.

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Vittorio De Sica s remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy s devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on
Shoeshine,
Miracle in Milan, and
Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in
The Bicycle Thief.
–Sean Axmaker

Package Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches