Watch Bicycle Thieves Online
Jeudi, décembre 24th, 2009 |
Watch Bicycle Thieves Online.
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I first saw this movie as a student decades ago, and now seeing it all these years later on DVD, I’m amazed how well it holds up. It’s a lesson in what can be done on the hide with so little; there’s no budget here, largely amateur actors and a very simple state. It’s about an unemployed man, who gets a job offer that requires a bike, the sacrifice his family must perform to score his bike out of hock, and what happens when the bike is stolen on the job. It’s successful because I judge the writers and director focus on some universal truths–about human nature, savor, pride, survival and–yes–family values. It’s disheartening to read some reviews that say: “I was bored,” “It wasn’t moving enough,” or “Enough with the gloomy & white.” It’s also disheartening to perceive reviews from people with no thought of this film’s historical context. The poverty of post-WWII Europe produced a revolution in cinema, and this movie was one that redefined the medium’s possibilities. I can’t imagine someone not being moved by the jam faced by the lead character in this film. I do regret that this movie has not gotten a corpulent “Criterion Collection” restoration, and I would have liked more “extras” on the DVD–like background information on the time the director and the Italian neo-realist movement. BTW, the more just translation of the Italian title is “Bicycle Thieves,” which (after you contemplate the movie) you must agree is more appropriate.
(This review is for the Criterion Collection release of this dvd — not for the Image Entertainment release that many other reviews here refer to.)
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“Bicycle Thieves” (as it is wisely retranslated from the Italian for this novel Criterion release) is one of the few “perfect films” — by which I mean a film that is in its occupy draw objective as it should be, lacking nothing, the kind of film where even apparent missteps tend to contribute indelibly to the overall impression of a film in which nothing could have been changed without damaging the film. Steal, for example, the scenario that instead of an unknown day laborer in the role of Antonio, de Sica had gone with David Selznick’s suggestion of Cary Grant (which was a condition for the film getting funded through American studios) . I have no doubt that this would have remained an captivating film, and that Grant would have done an admirable job — but it would have been a totally different film and would have lost the fragility and vulnerability and delicacy (combined with hardness and objectivity) that perform this film so precious. We can all be grateful that De Sica chose to wait for an Italian investor who allowed him to earn the film the design he and Zappatini had planned.
Without giving away anything of the area, I will say that the conclusion of the film is one of the most remarkable I have seen — and carries an emotional weight that is earned rather than manipulated, and that can be compared only to a very few films: Chaplin’s City Lights and Kiarostami’s Close-up are the only films that reach to mind. De Sica strikes a very gorgeous balance between realistic depiction of the harsh realities of life in postwar Rome, and a humanistic vison of the resourcefulness of individuals in the face of hopelessness and the enduring power of empathy, forgiveness, and fancy.
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The film looks better than ever on this unique Criterion edition — it seemed to me that a few shots were a bit washed out but I can only select that is due to the condition of the available negatives. Spots and dust and other imperfections seem to have been removed entirely, and the subtitles are quite pleasurable and easy to read. The film alone would acquire this area an critical one, but the booklet (containing some pleasant essays, including a very illuminating essay by Andre Bazin) and attached documentaries (one on neorealsm, one on screenwriter Zappatini, and one on De Sica) build this residence as a whole like a master course on one of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema.
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