Lady Fair and I watched The Bicycle Thief last night. To quickly summarize: Poverty has a stranglehold on a small town in Italy in 1948. The unemployment rate is incredibly high, and jobless man, Antonio, has been given a much-needed break with a job as a sign hanger. Problem is, the job requires a bicycle. He man has a bike, but it’s in hock; he had to sell it in order to feed his wife and kids. Through the sale of the family’s bed linens, the wife produces the money to get the bike out of hock. All looks great until the first day of the job when Antonio’s bike gets stolen pretty much right out from under him. The rest of the movie is about the pursuit of finding the stolen bike; a bittersweet adventure of father and son on a futile quest. They come close to getting it back, but a series of insurmountable obstacles prevents fruition. The movie is a heartbreaking account of desperation and disappointment. They never get the bike back and it’s back to Square One: bread and unemployment lines.If this movie were made in the U.S., they’d get the bike back--father and son absolutely beaming-- and ride off down a congested city street with the young boy on the handlebars. Of course, the boy would be cradling a huge loaf of bread, and the father’s cap would fly off as the sound of a ringing bike bell trails off. The trailer would inevitably contain the words “adventure of a lifetime” or “epic journey”, and would undoubtedly be doused in über-smarmy orchestral music. Ah hell, throw in a small dog chasing them, too.
