The Bicycle Thieves

The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette, the original title), is based on the story of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), and his son Bruno Ricci (Enzo Staiola), in search of Antonio’s stolen bike. Italian Neorealism is applied to the creation of De Sica, where the essence of reality and authenticity is captured throughout the film. A key feature of Neorealism that is seen in this film is the use of nonprofessional actors. De Sica stated in an interview that he chose Lamberto Maggiorani, who was once a factory worker, because of the way he moved, sat, his hand gestures, everything about him was perfect and simply pure. De Sica had also gone beyond measures to prove that Hollywood stars and ‘real people’ in neorealist films can be easily distinguished. For example, a scene in The Bicycle Thieves showed Ricci being told not to cause creases to the Rita Hayworth poster. When in reality, real people are bound to have wrinkles.
The film’s post-war touch is one similar to Germany, Year Zero (1948), by Roberto Rossellini. However, the movie takes place in the annihilated ruins of post-war Germany, where a twelve year old boy and his family hide his brother, who is a former Nazi in an apartment that they share with other families. The

The deep focus technique used helped detail the style to enhance the viewer’s experience of authenticity. This can be seen at Kane’s birthday party, where deep focus enables Welles to show Kane and a group of dancers revelling in the background in full detail even as Leland and Bernstein have a conversation in the foreground. This gives the viewers a sense of realism as they can choose to focus on any actions. The technique used can be easily distinguished in The Bicycle Thieves in the market scene when Ricci, Bruno, and their friends were searching for the stolen bicycle. It displays a sense of real life when passer-by’s block the camera’s view of the main