“You live and you suffer.”

Bicycle Thieves is the story of one man trying to recover his stolen bike which he needs for work, but on a larger scale, it is the story of a broken country trying to recover and an examination of what people are willing to do when driven by desperation. One of the leading examples of Italian neorealism, Bicycle Thieves uses amateur actors and on location shooting, giving the film a feeling of authenticity and personal connection to the subject matter.

The original title for the film was Ladri di biciclette, or The Bicycle Thief, but the title was later changed to Bicycle Thieves. Changing the title to be plural illustrates one of the main themes of the film, that if driven by desperation and the need to provide for one’s family, anyone can and will turn to crime. As the film progresses and we watch Antonio become more and more desperate to find his bike, we also see him stray further and further from the caring man and father he was when the movie opened. One scene which perfectly illustrates this is when Antonio and Bruno are crossing the street and Bruno almost gets hit by the car. Antonio does not even turn around to check on Bruno. He is so consumed with finding the bike, he forgets who he is trying to find it for.

By the time Antonio tries to steal the bike outside of the soccer stadium, we see how the circumstances in post-war Italy could lead any good person to resort to crime. It becomes clear that the man who stole Antonio’s bike initially was driven by a similar desperation which drives Antonio throughout the film. The final shot shows Antonio and Bruno walking away from the camera with a crowd of people. At the end of the film Antonio is just another bicycle thief, along with all of the other desperate citizens of post-war Italy.