Bicycle Thief Essay

Enrique’s exhaustion tempts him to give up, but he thinks of his mother” (Nazario 58). Thus, on Enrique’s seventh attempt, he gets beaten up almost to the point of death. Enrique contemplates giving up because of this,

The Aboriginal community of Australia has been subjected to a life of undeserving hatred and constant racism. And these two texts show that not much has changed for the Australian community to prevent and slow down the amount of racism towards the native Australian people. The first text, ‘Stolen Car’, is a short story set in Perth, written by Archie Weller, where the life of a native Aboriginal is just constant fear of the white Europeans and police. The protagonist Johnny is an 18 year old Aboriginal, who has come to Perth to ‘enjoy himself, then go home’. Little does he know he will be alienated by the harsh life of being an indigenous Australian in Perth.

It all begins with Antonio’s first dream about his own birth. At first he has no idea whose

Despite the fact that Antonio is only a newborn, the two sides of the family have already predetermined his path in life. His mother, Maria, wants Antonio to become a priest while his father, Gabriel, would rather him be free and follow in his example. Both parents want to instill their own aspirations upon him and partake in a mentalgame of tug of war with Antonio, the youngest and last son of the family, the final chance to make one of his parent’s dreams a reality. At a young age, Antonio is forced to come to a consensus of which parent will he please and which one will he forsake. This fact lingers over him and often resurfaces within his dreams. Though he doesn’t yet have to reach a decision, this dream acts as a cautionary reminder that he will have to soon in the future as it slowly approaches.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak shows through the midst of brutality, beauty can still be shown. The main characters Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner and Hans Huberman, prove this statement they are all faced with perilous situations, but still manage to show beauty throughout the situations. Liesel Meminger display beauty during the air raids, as she manages to read to people in the basement. Rudy Steiner displays beauty he jumps in the river to get Liesel’s book. Through Hans Huberman nobel character he displays beauty as he risks his life to hide a Jewish man in his basement.

Italian neorealism (1945-1953), through directors like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, made its trademark on cinematic history not only in Italy, but also throughout the world. It was films such as Rome Open City (Roma città aperta, 1945), The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 1948), and Umberto D., (1952) whose style of depicting the harsh economic and social realities of the poor and working class of Italy took off as a new cinematic style after World War II. Neorealism is a response to desperate economic situations and often illustrates suffering, poverty, injustice, and/or discrimination. Many argue that neorealism is a way of seeing reality without prejudice due to the documentary-like technique of the film and its ability

The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American

Larceny is defined as the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another from his or her possession with intent to convert them to the takers own use. To bluntly say it, larceny is stealing from others. No matter what the motives or reasons behind stealing are, it is still wrong. I imagine there is a multitude of motives for someone to convince himself or herself that it is worth the risk to steal something. Some other people might also not have the conscience to feel wrong for stealing. A large part of this is because people do not understand who or what they are harming when they steal. It is very common to become self-indulged and only worry about your problems. Even after being caught someone might only feel

Set in the depression times of post-World War II Italy, Graziadei and De Sica’s (1948) The Bicycle Thief narrates the story of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), who, after finding a job as a bill poster, loses his bicycle to a young thief. He tries to look for it with his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola); however, despite seeing the thief, he fails to recover his bicycle. Desperate, he tries to steal a bike himself but is easily thwarted by a group of bystanders. They plan to bring him to the police station until the owner notices the weeping Bruno and, in an act of compassion, ask others to release the thief. In this paper, I argue that The Bicycle Thief

In this essay I will look at the emergence of Italian neo-realist cinema and how Italian Neo-realism has been defined and classified in the film industry as well as how its distinct cinematic characteristics could only have been conceived in Italy and how these characteristics set the neo-realist style apart from other realist movements and from Hollywood.

	The tragedy is not Antonio's previous two years of unemployment- it is that he has no future in his new job, due to the theft of his bike. Antonio must face this tragedy with no public support other than his friend Baiocco. Baiocco's willingness to help with his friends and his optimistic response to Maria constitute another case of human optimism. This form of optimism pervades the film with Antonio's perseverance and determination to find the stolen bike. These events stimulate the viewer's mind to think of solutions related to Antonio's situation, perhaps to try to solve problems of post-war Italy such as crime, famine, health issues, living condition, etc.; ills that have affected society then and now around the globe.

We see alleyways, overflowing soup kitchen, and brothel neighborhood, and everywhere hordes unemployed men whose frustration gives the film an urgent energy. Amidst this contextual background, Bicycle Thieves therefore, makes a rare, true entry in the Neorealism form in which only a handful of films qualify, even though, it does not portray or refence the times of its making within the film, it rather shows class division, and ineffective employment system.

In Italy, directors focused on the moral and economic conditions that came with the postwar generation quickly after the war and addressed the war instead of not acknowledging as German cinema did for so long. Unlike Alice in the Cities and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, films such as Bicycle Thieves depicted dislocation during the postwar period in the Neorealist style, made in 1948, this film differs greatly from the two former films discussed. In Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica delivers a political message regarding the difficulty of survival in postwar Italy, but also conveys a sense of psychological dislocation through the character development of Antonio Ricci. In many ways, Italy’s economy is much to blame for Ricci’s two-year unemployment in which the film begins, however, Ricci has as many internal struggles as he does externally. Neorealism lies heavily on the depiction of real life problems depicting common people and often used people from the street as actors, in this film the man who played Ricci, Lamberto Maggiorani, actually was a factory worker, which helps solidify the film’s authenticity. Towards the end of Bicycle Thieves, Ricci’s efforts to retrieve his stolen bicycle fail when the people that live near the boy who stole it side with the epileptic boy as he has a

Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.

in a purse, pocket or bag but can occur by a variety of methods. Most