Delayed Reaction: The Bicycle Thief

The Pitch: Life's not great in post-WWII Italy.

I like to do things backwards, so I saw the episode of Master of None inspired by this first then decided to track the film down. In truth, I've probably seen parodies and homages to this all my life and never picked up on it.

This film is a great example of something that bothers me: What should you get out of a film? The answer is, of course, whatever you want. People watch and rate movies by all sorts of metrics. And even within people, there's different moods, contexts, and tastes to account for at a given time. I bring this up because my reaction to The Bicycle Thief was very negative while also recognizing that it's a very good film. It's praised as a masterpiece of Italian neorealism. Things like the Sight and Sound polls name it as among the best films ever made. I don't fight that. The ending is just so damn bleak. People like to talk about satisfying endings. That's a bad word to use. No one likes an unsatisfying ending. Unsatisfying implies that it's missing something you need in order to appreciate it. Perhaps you like a movie with an unresolved ending. But, if you like the unresolved ending, then that means you were satisfied by it. Me? I like at least a little hope or a definite end. Horror movie or Rogue One. Everyone dies. That's cool. At least I know that. It's definitive. Otherwise, I at least need a little something to know that things can get better.

The Bicycle Thief is a total tear down. Not only was the whole story a bust that has no resolution to his missing bike, he also becomes the very thing that ruined him, only he is caught and humiliated in front of his son instead of being sent to jail. I appreciate the realism, but it leaves a hole inside me. I assume the the same kind of hole some people get when they watch a movie that abandons the first 90 minutes of story to shoehorn in a crowd-pleasing ending. You know, the stuff I normally like better. This just comes down to taste.

I suppose my issue is that I feel tricked. But, I don't know if I should blame The Bicycle Thief for building a whole movie around a fruitless quest or more traditional story structures that tell me someone wouldn't spend so much time on a story without having it pay off. I guess what I'm saying is that this is a good movie that is important to film history that I don't plan on seeing again.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend