The Bicycle Thief

"To eat like that, you need a million lira a month at least."

Those are the words that Antonio tells his son Bruno when they are in the pizzeria and see the family eating the big plate of pasta.  After searching for the stolen bike that the police have been no help in locating.  It's a film I feel about the class struggle and a cycle of theft and poverty.

The scene in The Bicycle Thief at the end when a bunch of men are chasing Antonio and the bicycle he stole it shows the power of class when the Ricci's bikeis stolen and help is called for no one comes to aid.  While in a moment of weakness Antonio steals the bike we have someone in the crowd a well dressed and groom man calls for help and they stop to track him down.

While the film doesn't show us much in the wealth dived it can be seen in the dress of background characters and the family that can afford a large portion of food.  Society makes  it difficult for this man to support his family,but he's trying his best even given in to crime at the end.

Though it doesn't excuse his behavior he isn't a rich man already stealing to become richer or a murder he's a man that wants to protect his family.  I think as a post-war film it's interesting in a societal context.  Post war many families that were once on top of the world where now much like Antonio and his family just trying to get by.  While in other circumstances sometimes one can argue that War is profitable,but  not for those everyday people. I think it's an interesting notion to think about the people that after a War are seemingly put together and are financially successful while everyone around them is not doing so great.

Though not the films message I think it's an interesting though  to think about that Post Wars is when a lot of criminal activities take place with people trying to rebuild their lives and what not.

I think the film though is trying to show us the cycle of poverty and crime and what happens to lead someone down that road.  It is there to make us not just label people "criminals" and see what drives crime.  I think overall it's interesting to think about how there are crimes that are much more sympathetic than others then there are crimes that can be sympathetic on  circumstance then there are those that just can't be rationalized or ever be felt that way except by twisted individuals.