'The bicycle theif'

Yesterday, I watched ‘The bicycle thief’. Its an Italian movie shot on the backdrop of post world war II scenario – times when Italy was paralyzed by unemployment and poverty.

The plot is simple – Ricci every morning joins a mob of work-seekers that will earn them bread by end of the day. That day happened to be Ricci’s lucky day because he gets the job only under the pretext that he has the cycle. His wife pawns the linens in the house to trade-in the cycle from the pawn shop. On the first day of the job, his cycle is stolen right under his nose and then begins a desperate hunt for the cycle along with his 5 year old son, Bruno.

The father-son duo search all over the city, they almost catch a real thief but he outsmarts them. It’s the fag end of the day, completely exhausted Bruno sits at roadside, but Ricci still hasn’t given up, he sees an unattended cycle and after a lot of contemplation lays his hand on it. He is caught in the act and furious crowd starts chasing him. When Bruno sees Ricci, his father, stealing the bicycle – its like his God has cheated on him. But the next moment, he runs to his father – who is being taken to the police – slips his small hands into father's, as he is dragged by the crowd. And that moment the father-son equation changes. This little boy becomes a father. He silently wipes his own face when he sees his father weeping, as they walk away with the crowd.

The movie questions our belief in so called moral values when we watch the struggle for survival changing rules about what’s right and what’s wrong. Towards the end, we can’t help empathizing with the thief.

The film has a certain poetic feel to it. Like listening to a sonnet or a sad Gazal -simplicity in expression and truth in despair would stir you.

Though post-world-war era plays a certain invisible character in the movie, to me, it almost appeared timeless. It’s not about poverty stricken man whose only means to livelihood was stolen. Its about having lost a dream – a dream to live dignified, respectable life.