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Bicycle Thieves U rating

Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.

Drama 1948 89 mins

Director: Vittorio De Sica

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Overview

A landmark of humanist filmmaking, Bicycle Thieves was a key work in the 1940s film movement known as Italian neo-realism. Set in post-war Rome, it follows the misfortunes of down-on-his-luck Antonio (played by Lamberto Maggiorani) and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola). Over the course of the day they embark on a fruitless hunt for the father’s stolen bike, which he desperately needs to work and support the family.

Along with the wartime trilogy that Roberto Rossellini began with Rome: Open City (1945), it heralded a new kind of cinematic naturalism, employing non-professionals as actors and taking the camera out onto the streets to faithfully record the social realities of a Europe struggling to get back on its feet after WWII. For all its vivid documentation of a downtrodden Rome, it is as a universal tale of human striving that De Sica’s film has proved influential. In 1952 Bicycle Thieves topped Sight & Sound’s inaugural greatest films poll and remains a favourite among both critics and audiences today.

Director
Vittorio De Sica
Featuring
Lamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellElena Altieri
Genres
Drama
Certificate
U
Released
1948
Country
Italy
Language
Italian with English subtitles