The Bicycle Thief

In the 1948 film The Bicycle Thief, Ricci and his family are living in Rome during the post-world war II depression. Ricci, in search of work, gets hand picked out of over a hundred men for a job, the only requirement is he needs a bicycle. During this era of depression in Rome, aside from public transportation the bicycle was the most valuable means of transportation, if you could afford one. Ricci, who had already hocked his bicycle once in order to buy food for his family, returns to the pawn shop to retrieve his bicycle. His wife brings with them all of their bedding materials to trade for the bike.

The next day Ricci starts his job, traveling throughout the streets of Rome hanging up posters (before billboards, advertisement was glued on walls of buildings).
During one of his jobs a teenager sneaks behind him and steals his bicycle. Ricci catches a glimpse of what the teen looks like,chases him but can't catch him.

Ricci notifies a policeman and gives a description of the bike and its serial number.
The policeman offers little hope of him finding it amongst the hundreds of bicycles in the city.

Ricci requests the help of some friends and the next morning they begin their search, Ricci's son Bruno assists him. Throughout Ricci's feverish search we see:

1. There are literally hundreds of bicycles in Rome, out numbering cars about 4 to 1,and on every street corner people are selling bicycles and accessories. Some bicycles are stolen and then stripped apart for parts, so it seems like it would be an impossible task to find a stolen bike. Ricci searches through many of the street vendors displays of bikes.

2. While walking with his son down one street after an exhaustive search, Ricci recognizes the thief talking to a homeless man as if they were friends. He confronts them but the teenager gets away from him again. Ricci presses on the old man for the whereabouts of the teen, but gets no answers. Not accepting the old man's unwillingness to help, Ricci follows the old man into a church. After a few squabbles within a church service, the old man gives him the slip.

3. Throughout Ricci's failed attempts at finding his bicycle, you can tell he's losing his cool and is becoming more and more desperate. He has it set in his mind that he must not fail,and does not want to fail in the sight of his son.

Ricci finally catches the thief, but without any evidence of the bicycle in sight, he has trouble proving to a policeman that the teen stole his bicycle.

At the end of a long day's search, Ricci and his son make their journey back home. Ricci is completely dejected at the loss of not only his bike, but now the sure loss of his job, and his failure in front of his son.

Ricci and his son Bruno make their way past hundreds upon hundreds of bicycles parked outside the soccer stadium. He sends his son home on the trolley, and in one last desperate measure decides to steal one of the bicycles. His son misses boarding the trolley and sees his father stealing the bicycle and then watches as his father gets caught. The owner of the bicycle refuses to press charges when he sees the boy, so the policeman lets Ricci go.

Ricci walks away in complete shame, his son Bruno following at his side.

Ricci, a once proud man who only wanted to provide for his family,let his desperation get the best of him. But I like the way this story ended: the son choosing to stick beside his father, even in his father's most desperate, shameful moment.