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Movie Analysis: M vs. Bicycle Thieves Essay

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Analysis of M and Bicycle Thieves One thing that both movies, M and Bicycle Thieves, share collectively is the open ending; both movies make audiences interpret their own perception or ending of the movies. Also, both movies contain a sense of tragedy in the final scenes; in the movie M, I felt somewhat sympathetic toward the mentally ill killer even though I knew he was the serial killer and might be pretending to get away. The feeling of sympathy toward the serial killer in the presence of his victim’s families also made me feel guilty about my feelings. Also, in Bicycle Thieves, when Antonio stole the bike, I wanted him to get away without his son finding out about it, which is also a contradictory or immoral feeling knowing that the…show more content…
The movie, Bicycle Thieves, has some of the characteristics of classic Hollywood movies: there’s a protagonist; there’s a conflict (jobless and bicycle theft); and there’s an obstacle (Antonio has to find it to keep his job). However, there’s no happy or moral ending, but it has an open ending. For me, this is somewhat tragic ending because Antonio, who is an ideal father for his son Bruno, becomes a thief, and Bruno’s delusion that his father is a “hero” is crashed, and that we see in the close-up shots of Bruno’s face when he sees his father running away with a bicycle. The movie M depicts a society where everyone is in fear of something, and everyone is doubting others; the central idea of this movie is that no one is safe and everyone is “isolated.” The movie M shows the influence of German Expressionism movement by incorporating many ideas from it. This movie incorporated many shadows which was a very significant part of German Expressionism; the audience relies on the serial killer’s shadow to know his presence in many scenes. The first half of the movie is slow-paced, and the shadow of the serial killer is huge (exaggeration). Techniques such as Mise-en-scene is utilized in this movie, for example, when the serial killer kidnaps, Elsie, audiences don’t see him killing
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