When Antonio's bicycle is stolen, he loses more than a bike. The brand name of the bicycle "Fides" (Faith in Latin) suggest it has symbolic value. What is the significance of that symbol? What does Antonio lose? Are there other symbols in this film?
Antonio loses his faith in integrity when his bike is stolen in the Italian classic, Bicycle Thieves. Early in the film, Antonio establishes his genuine happiness in being able to buy the Fides, and in turn provide for his family after his wife angrily removed the sheets to sell. His happiness is apparent between the deep focus shot of the bike shop worker finding the correct bike, Antonio's excitement in claiming that "It's the Fides!", and the following close up of pure content on his face. As the film continues, tracking shots show Antonio proudly hoisting his bike onto his shoulder in the office, as if he is holding the weight of satisfaction in providing for his family. Up until this point, he has showed great integrity in helping his wife carry buckets, being excited to make money for the family, driving his wife around on the bike, including Bruno is his life by taking him to work, driving Bruno around, and working diligently to learn the poster trade. After his bike is stolen, he loses his full-fledged ability to believe in humanity. When he first goes to the station to report the stolen bike, he does not believe in the representative's effort to help, despite the fact that the situation is out of control of the agency. Meanwhile, he is also losing his own sense of integrity. After having put so much emphasis of his character and humanity on the acquisition of his Fides, he slowly begins to lose this faith in integrity after his bike is stolen. This loss in faith is shown by a progression of poor moral choices, many involving the treatment of his son. Between picking Bruno up late, leaving Bruno near the less-than desirable bell shop and slapping Bruno in the face, Antonio allows the stealing of his bike to stand in the way of his integrity in the treatment of Bruno. In addition, Antonio loses his ability to trust the word of others, as seen in his interaction with the man and his wife painting a bike frame, and with the man who begins to seize after being accused in the street. The straight on shot of Antonio's dazed face in the second instance with men yelling, "Can't go just accuse people like that" shows the overwhelming impact his stolen bike has had on his life, and thus the impact on his integrity. His final irrational action demonstrates his total loss of integrity; in stealing a bike, Antonio potentially seriously impacts two people. First, he impacts the life of whoever's bike he stole. Having felt the immense loss of faith in humanity with the disappearance of his own bike, it is sad that he resorts to causing the same pain to someone else. Secondly, he has the potential to impact the life of his son, who could lose the father figure he has had for his whole life. Antonio's Fides is a symbol of integrity, and his faith in integrity is stolen along with his bike.
In “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio does not only lose does not bicycle, but also his morals. Antonio was so happy he finally got a good paying job to support his family, but his bicycle was stolen resorting to him and his son looking for the lost bike. Antonio was starting to give up and thought he would never find his Fides (the bike) again, so he decided to take someone else’s bike through his morals right out the window. I saw that because Antonio thought it was unfair that as soon as something good come his way, someone ruins it and he never wanted it the other way around and ruining someone else’s life. However, Antonio lost so much faith looking for his bike, that he saw no other choice but to do what was done to him. This is an important symbol to know about this movie because Fides in Latin means faith, so Antonio losing his bike fides is actually Antonio losing his faith. Now that Antonio‘s faith is gone, he looks for other things to fill void before he does something drastic, so Antonio goes to the lady the sees the light. He somewhat believes her, but thinks he and his son, Bruno, will do better just looking for the bike until it is found. This is when Antonio decides his only option is to steal someone else bike to try and better his own life while taking from someone else’s. Antonio’s bike theft was unsuccessful since he was caught moments after hoping on the bike, and his facial reaction while be taken off the bike can be seen as regret and sorrowful because Antonio knew what he did was wrong and that he was setting a bad example for Bruno. Overall, the symbolism within this movie shows when one loses faith, they also lose their ideals and morals and will do something drastic unless something can be found to replace the lost faith.
In “Bicycle Thieves,” Antonio loses much of his appreciation for those around him and beauty in life in his desperate search for his bike. At the beginning of the film, Antonio seems like a genuine and nice person who cares for the people around him. He seems genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of his family when his wife decides to sell the sheets to purchase the bike. He also proudly and warmly shows her his new job, and then rides home with her on the bike, which he also seems quite overjoyed to own and appreciates both it and his job. He shows pride in his son’s mature behavior and knowledge of bicycle machinery, ruffling his hair and smiling at him. He also talks to Bruno, his son, as if he is a grown adult who is capable of making his own decisions, and generally treats him with respect. Finally, as he leaves the apartment, he gives a warm smile to his infant child. These are all emotions and actions that Antonio starts doing less and less of as the course of the film progresses. A key example of this is his treatment of Bruno in the later parts of the film. He begins to treat Bruno more like a child, verbally reprimanding him and slapping him in the face. He also stops paying attention to Bruno to the point where he sometimes forgets to make sure that Bruno is following him, and also not noticing occasions in which Bruno falls over in the mud or almost gets hit by a car. These scenes show that Antonio no longer thinks so highly of his son, as he is forgetting that he is even there. This is in sharp contrast to the start of the film, in which Bruno is clearly always on Antonio’s mind and is a symbol of pride for him, which shows that Antonio has now lost his appreciation for Bruno’s mature personality. Similarly, Antonio stops taking time to enjoy the subtle moments in his life, such as riding home with his wife. There is a brief moment at the restaurant when Antonio seems to be appreciating his meal, but it quickly becomes clear that the bike is still the only thing on his mind. By the end of the film, this is all that he cares about, and no longer appreciates anything else. In this way, he has lost faith in life, which is directly symbolised by the loss of his bike - a Fides, or “faith.” This finally culminates in him stealing another bike, which shows that he does not care about the wellbeing of others anymore and will do anything to just to regain his own happiness.
In the film “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio’s bicycle is produced by fides. At first fides may not mean anything to the viewer of the film without further digging, but fides does in fact retain a much larger meaning as it is faith in Latin. The idea of faith flows throughout much of this Italian film. In an economic depression in Italy, Antonio does not have a job at the beginning of the film and needs to support his wife and son, Bruno. In a huge crowd of citizens waiting to get jobs assigned to them, Antonio is called upon, but in order to accept the job he must have a bike readily available for his use. He accepts then goes to get his Fides bike! This bike is extremely valuable to Antonio and his family as it is going to help him provide for them in order to live a better life, so Antonio heavily relies on his bike and has all of his faith within it. Soon after Antonio begins his job, his bike is stolen! Throughout the film, we see Antonio go through an emotional journey and investigation as time progresses without his bike we see Antonio lose his faith and himself. At first Antonio seemed to be a polite man who wanted an honest living to support his family but he loses his morals as he keeps searching for his bike. He assaults multiple people, interrupts church, and eventually strikes his own son. Antonio’s life and morality directly connect to his faith in his bike which is essentially his path to success for his family.
In Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" Antonio not only loses his bike Fides, but also loses his faith in the people around him, his faith in himself, and his faith in being able to ever finding a bike again.
Let's begin with him losing faith in the people around him. Throughout the movie, it's clear to us the viewers that Antonio is not well respected in society. It seems that wherever he goes, he's usually treated as below the others around him, despite them obviously being in similar dire straits as he is. The first time we see this is actually with the bike heist itself. When we see the miscreant, it is pretty obvious from his dirty clothes and beat down look that he is not in a great financial situation. It's obvious that he is not in any better of a stature than Antonio. But then, when the person is running away with Antonio's bike, no one pursued him. Instead, everyone continued on with their lives as though they didn't see that his bike got stolen. Antonio didn't matter to anyone at all in this scene, and it shows in how desperate he becomes in trying to recover his bicycle.
Moving on to the second point of losing faith in himself, it's clear that his self esteem and dignity was severely damaged. He began to become so desperate for a bike towards the end that he began to lose sight of himself and his family. In other words, he stopped believing in himself and chose to only search for his bike. Instead of maybe taking it slow and just accepting that he would not be able to find his bike, his desperation and faith in himself to accept and move on was so low that he just decided to pursue his bike with no concern about anything else. What all this shows is that he doesn't trust himself to find a way out of this situation and believes that his value is only in his job. Similar to the old man in the Last Laugh who thought he was nothing without the uniform, so does Antonio. He believes he is nothing without his job and his bike.
That leads us into our final point, that being that Antonio will not be able to find a bike ever again. Having gone the whole story losing faith in everyone around him and losing faith in himself, he always believed that everything could be solved by finding his Fides bike. That no matter how bad or desperate things got for him, if he just persevered long enough to get his bike, that all would be solved and all would be well in his life. But sadly, even that hope is taken away from him when we reach the end of the film, and Antonio is left to have to walk all the way back home, defeated and completely demoralized. After becoming so disenfranchised with himself and society, he had one last ditch hope of potentially stealing a bicycle, one last hope of keeping his job and life intact, only to fail. What adds to the tragedy is that when his own bike was stolen, no one tried to stop the criminal. But when Antonio did the same, he was pursued at length. Such is the plight that faced him. Everything he cared for, himself, his family, others, and his bike, was snatched away from him, and thus symbolized his tragedy.
In Bicycle Thieves, when Antonio loses his bike he also loses his faith in himself, the justice system, and others. When Antonio is given a job opportunity at the beginning of the movie, he is excited for the chance to provide for his family. He talks with his wife who quickly suggests they sell the sheets off their bed so that he can buy back his bike from the pawnshop. Antonio’s happiness is revealed when he yells, “It’s the Fides, next to the red bike” followed by a close up of him and his wife, both grinning ear to ear. In the following scenes leading up to the theft of Antonio’s bike, he is shown walking around town holding his bike on his shoulder for everyone to see. He is proud of his new job and the opportunities it presents for his family. Unfortunately, everything changes when Antonio’s bike is stolen while he is putting up a poster. In a frantic attempt to catch the crook, Antonio jumps on a taxi and tells the driver to follow the bike. One of the robber’s accomplices also jumps on the taxi, pretending to help. He tells the driver to go the wrong way so that the bike thief can escape. The taxi goes the wrong way and the thief escapes with Antonio’s bike. That night, Antonio does not return home because he does not want to disappoint his wife. Instead, he goes to the police and tells them what happened. To Antonio’s chagrin, the police officer does not care about his stolen bike claiming that they will never find the bike. While the bike is obviously important to Antonio, the police officer pays no attention and leaves for a political event. Following this encounter, Antonio loses faith in the justice system, and realizes they do not care about his bike because of his low social status. His loss of faith is illustrated by Antonio’s decision to take matters into his own hands and enlist some of his friends to help him look for the stolen bike. The next morning, Antonio and his friends search all of the bike stores in town looking for the stolen bike. When they do not find anything, Antonio goes off on his own with his son Bruce. Antonio becomes extremely anxious at this point and trusts no one other than himself and his son to look for the bike. However, while losing faith in others and the justice system is not a good thing for Antonio, he experiences his lowest point when he loses faith in himself. After a long day searching, Antonio finally finds the man who stole his bike and confronts him. However, with no evidence and no witnesses, Antonio does not receive any help from a nearby police officer and cannot recover his lost bicycle. While walking through the street that afternoon, Antonio is on the verge of giving up. Suddenly, he sees a lone bike sitting outside of an apartment building. The viewer sees Antonio’s inner struggle as he contemplates whether to steal the bike. The fact that he considers stealing a bike to replace his old one highlights Antonio’s loss of faith in himself, others, and the justice system. He recognizes he will not retrieve his old bike and makes the same decision as the bike thief who stole Antonio’s bike. Antonio eventually decides to steal the bike. While he is unsuccessful, the damage has already been done to Antonio’s faith and he ends the movie, walking home with his son and looking defeated. The lost Fides bike is a symbol of the faith that Antonio lost throughout the movie.
Antonio's bike is not just a bike it's his transportation to a better quality of life. The bike is a symbol for an opportunity as each day he rides it, he lengthens his path for a better life. Once his bicycle is stolen, he loses his faith in the justice system and eventually himself. He would no longer keep his job and be forced to go back to having no income. Back when Antonio was allowed to work, we see the scene in which the camera cuts, and we see an excited Antonio who gains his Fides bike back. His genuine happiness leads to a burst of pleasure as he finally has his faith restored. Once his bike is gone and he loses his faith in humanity, he spirals downward. He initially has 'faith' that he will find his bike, but it clarifies that the chance is extremely slim. Even when he gets a lead on the bike, he cannot capitalize and find it. Fides is the name of his bike, but its significance is a central point in the plot. As a viewer, why doesn't he try to buy a different bike (or borrow one). But he has this manliness about himself. He has faith in himself, and his pride overrules his ability to ask for help. Another symbol in the film is the relationship that Antonio has with his son Bruno. His son seems to be quite intelligent for his age, and he looks up to his father. That is why we don't see Antonio give up for loose faith until the very end. As Fides is an overarching topic for a film, we see a man who suddenly lost his Fides and his opportunity for success.
In "Bicycle Thief's", when the bike is stolen from Antonio's family, their future is stolen as well. In the beginning of the movie, the importance Antonio purchasing his bike back is exemplified in his reaction to the job offer. Antonio's initial reaction to his wife was that purchasing this bicycle was of the upmost severity. As if it was life or death. This is supported by the family sacrificing their bedsheets for money. This establishes that the family is not only poor, but that this bicycle is full or sacrifice and investment. Once this bike is stolen, Antonio loses everything. After he failed to retrieve the stolen bicycle, he was so focused on what he lost, that he couldn't even consider the future. Yes, he lost the bicycle and the linen he invested, however surely they would be capable of sacrificing a little bit more, to get the job. Antonio even recklessly spent money on expensive food, and a fortune teller! Antonio's short-sightedness shows that the bike represented more than a loss on investment. It was more of a loss in faith of the future and his own morality. Antonio could not see past this set back so he decided to try and cheat the system, making him just as blameworthy as the original bicycle thief. Finally, the loss of the bicycle represented a loss of faith in the justice institutions and other people. For instance, After Antonio lost his bike, the police simply disregarded his case. In fact the police were not very helpful at all throughout the multiple occasions where Antonio needed them. Thus Antonio lost so much faith in the police, that he took it upon himself to get his bike back. Also, his loss in his faith of others can be represented by his deteriorating relationship with his son. He slowly pushed his son away and disregarded his desire to assist, leaving the boy sad and lonely. This Fides bike was everything to Antonio, and when the bike was lost, so was Antonio's future.
In Bicycle Thieves, the brand of Antonio’s bicycle is “Fides”, which translates to faith, in latin, so when it gets stolen he also symbolically loses his faith in the decency of humanity. At first, Anthony is portrayed as a very wholesome family man, who will do anything to help them succeed. He patiently waits until he is offered a job, and then seems genuinely excited to tell his family that he will earn money for them. He is so determined to get this bike that his wife ended up having to sell their sheets to pay for it, and he acts very grateful for her sacrifice. At this point, he is still very happy and because he got a job he believes that the universe is on his side. It is not until he gets his bike stolen while working that he loses his faith in the goodness of people. First off, he is heartbroken at the fact that anyone would steal something from such an innocent, goodwill person. On top of that, he is shocked at the fact that the people around him all did not help to stop the thief. This is the initial breaking of his trust. He becomes increasingly frustrated when he can’t find his bike after looking for a while. He seems truly sad that he won’t be able to provide for his family like he thought he would with his new job. His faith in the good of humanity is broken because he just simply can’t wrap his head around why something so bad would happen to someone with such good intentions. The last straw is when he finds the boy who stole his bike and confronts him. The thief denies committing the crime and all of his friends and family vocally back him up. Antonio tries to involve a cop to get justice, but he reveals that he cannot do anything unless he has witnesses, which he does not. So, the thief gets away free and Antonio is left shattered by the ferocity of the universe and the people within. He demonstrates his discouraged heart by attempting to steal a bike for himself because he saw someone else get away with it. However, this goes horribly wrong and he gets caught almost immediately by nearby people who chastise him for being a terrible, immoral person. So, as he watches everything go wrong for himself, who wants nothing but happiness for his family, and everything go right for the “bad” guy, he truly loses any last hope in the virtue of humankind.
In “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio's bicycle symbolizes the trust and confidence he has in humanity. At the beginning of the film, Antonio is given a job desired by many other civilians. After Antonio reveals that he does not own a bicycle, a man pops up from the crowd saying, "I have a bicycle." Another man responds, "You're not the only one! I do too." These sudden expressions of interest demonstrate how lucky Antonio is to be given the job of putting up posters. At this moment, his faith in humanity increases because things are finally beginning to come along for his family. When Antonio retrieves his bicycle from the pawnshop, his faith in humanity is at its peak; he is both in possession of "Fides" physically and metaphorically. The final smile he shines at his wife before leaving for his first day on the job exemplifies the height of Antonio's happiness throughout the film. However, his trust and confidence in humanity gradually decrease once his bicycle is stolen. When he goes to file a missing report at the station, he trusts that his bicycle will be found because he has provided the officer the bicycle's "description and the license plate." He still tries to focus on the situation's positive angle, but must force himself to construct such a mentality. As time progresses, his trust in others continues to decline. In the scene where Antonio confronts the man working on a bicycle's paint job, Antonio pleads to see the bicycle's serial number. The man working on the bike assures Antonio that it is not Antonio's. However, Antonio's paranoia has now furthered his lack of trust. His lack of faith in the man's words is indicative when he calls a police officer over to force the man to let him see the bicycle's serial number. Towards the end of the film, when Antonio correctly identifies the culprit, his faith in humanity reaches its low as nobody in the town trusts him. He shouts, "You're all alike. You're all thieves." His anger pushes him to marginalize everyone in the city as criminals. In the end, the further Antonio gets from "Fides," the further he gets from his faith in humanity.
Antonio’s bike is even more of a symbol than an actual object in the story. It represents the struggle of poverty and the last hope to rise out of it and be able to afford basic needs. Throughout the movie we find Antonio to have little religious preference or beliefs, he doesn’t show respect in the church, and only goes to the “seeing” woman when all else fails. In this feeling of non-believing, there is no higher force to help him, the burden of seeking a job when there are very few, putting food on the table, and being successful is all up to him, he is alone. In this dismal world where no one is going to help him but himself, he suddenly gets a job, but in order to keep the job and feed his family, he needs his bike back. This bike becomes a symbol for the hope he has to elevate his family out of extreme poverty and be able to provide. Right as the job is placed in his hands, it is yanked away when his bike is stolen. Throughout the movie, he is simply searching for a lost dream he has to provide for his family and have success. When he fails to find the bicycle it represents the loss he has in both faith in himself, the system, and a possible higher force which he starts to seem as if he believes in as we near the end. At the end of the movie when he doesn’t find his bike again, it represents the lost hope of being successful. His family will sink into deeper and deeper poverty as he searches for a job, selling all of their things in order to feed themselves, a phenomenon pictured very clearly throughout the film as we follow him on his journey to find his bike.
Bicycle Thieves is predicated on the idea on man’s loss of faith in his soul. Through the loss of the bike ‘Fides’ we see the gradual denaturation of Antonio, from the high-spirited, family-focused worker who chases a bicycle thieve to a bicycle thieve himself. How does a man become the very thing he despises? One minute he trashes a thief and the next he becomes one himself. One might believe that the metamorphosis is through the loss of faith is in institutions: the justice system in the church. However, the real loss of faith, what brings Antonio to his knees, is his loss of faith in himself. The symbol of spirituality and the soul is a recurring metaphor throughout the film. Faith is closely tied to the immaterial in this film. At the beginning Antonio finds his faith through his access to material conditions and his personal pride. His love of the material is ethereal, he even sells his own bedsheets just to purchase his bike back and obtain the job that is the key to his income mobility. He gawks at the upper classes with envy, as he explains to Bruno that his goal for obtaining the job was to make as much as them. Even when he loses the bike, the proverbial ‘Faith’ in the material, Antonio continues his crusade towards reclaiming his faith. He even rejects the faith of the church in favor of his material possessions. But alas, as we pan away from Antonio and Bruno in the final scene, we see there is no faith in the material. Not even a brief excursion with crime could restore Antonio’s faith in it. Possibly the most interesting demonstration of this dichotomy of the film is in Antonio’s evolving relationship with the fortune teller. In the beginning he brushes aside his wife’s confidence in the guru’s predictive abilities, labeling it as a foolish endeavor for people with no prospects. His new job and financial prospects are a substitute for faith in the mystic. But, as we see near the end of the film, Antonio becomes the very person he ridiculed, begging the guru to give him some semblance of incorporeal faith. His changing relationship with the mystic is representative with his evolving relationship with his own faith. No longer capable of finding truth in the material, he reaches out to the otherworldly. Bruno is an interesting foil to view the progression of Antonio’s faith. As Antonio slowly loses his faith in the material and himself, he begins to disregard Bruno. Bruno represents that faith that Antonio had in himself. As he explains in the diner, he wanted Bruno to have the life of luxury that he envied. As time progresses, he becomes more desperate to find the bike, to restore the faith in the material that lived vicariously through for his son. This culminates with the stealing of the bike, Antonio’s final grasp of retaining his faith in the material. One scene that particularly illustrates this relationship is when Bruno disappears near the river. In rapid succession we see Antonio greeted with images of his failure, a drowning child, screaming people, and, finally, Bruno at the top of a flight of stairs. In a high angle shot we see Antonio climbing up the staircase to be level with his son, Bruno is the lofty ideals that we see Antonio fail to live up to. In his frantic search for the bike, he loses touch with his faith he imposed in his son, eventually nearly losing to the rapids. In the final scene of the film, we watch as Bruno and Antonio walk into the crowd, perhaps truly lost, in material and in faith.
Antonio loses his faith in integrity when his bike is stolen in the Italian classic, Bicycle Thieves. Early in the film, Antonio establishes his genuine happiness in being able to buy the Fides, and in turn provide for his family after his wife angrily removed the sheets to sell. His happiness is apparent between the deep focus shot of the bike shop worker finding the correct bike, Antonio's excitement in claiming that "It's the Fides!", and the following close up of pure content on his face. As the film continues, tracking shots show Antonio proudly hoisting his bike onto his shoulder in the office, as if he is holding the weight of satisfaction in providing for his family. Up until this point, he has showed great integrity in helping his wife carry buckets, being excited to make money for the family, driving his wife around on the bike, including Bruno is his life by taking him to work, driving Bruno around, and working diligently to learn the poster trade. After his bike is stolen, he loses his full-fledged ability to believe in humanity. When he first goes to the station to report the stolen bike, he does not believe in the representative's effort to help, despite the fact that the situation is out of control of the agency. Meanwhile, he is also losing his own sense of integrity. After having put so much emphasis of his character and humanity on the acquisition of his Fides, he slowly begins to lose this faith in integrity after his bike is stolen. This loss in faith is shown by a progression of poor moral choices, many involving the treatment of his son. Between picking Bruno up late, leaving Bruno near the less-than desirable bell shop and slapping Bruno in the face, Antonio allows the stealing of his bike to stand in the way of his integrity in the treatment of Bruno. In addition, Antonio loses his ability to trust the word of others, as seen in his interaction with the man and his wife painting a bike frame, and with the man who begins to seize after being accused in the street. The straight on shot of Antonio's dazed face in the second instance with men yelling, "Can't go just accuse people like that" shows the overwhelming impact his stolen bike has had on his life, and thus the impact on his integrity. His final irrational action demonstrates his total loss of integrity; in stealing a bike, Antonio potentially seriously impacts two people. First, he impacts the life of whoever's bike he stole. Having felt the immense loss of faith in humanity with the disappearance of his own bike, it is sad that he resorts to causing the same pain to someone else. Secondly, he has the potential to impact the life of his son, who could lose the father figure he has had for his whole life. Antonio's Fides is a symbol of integrity, and his faith in integrity is stolen along with his bike.
ReplyDeleteIn “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio does not only lose does not bicycle, but also his morals. Antonio was so happy he finally got a good paying job to support his family, but his bicycle was stolen resorting to him and his son looking for the lost bike. Antonio was starting to give up and thought he would never find his Fides (the bike) again, so he decided to take someone else’s bike through his morals right out the window. I saw that because Antonio thought it was unfair that as soon as something good come his way, someone ruins it and he never wanted it the other way around and ruining someone else’s life. However, Antonio lost so much faith looking for his bike, that he saw no other choice but to do what was done to him. This is an important symbol to know about this movie because Fides in Latin means faith, so Antonio losing his bike fides is actually Antonio losing his faith. Now that Antonio‘s faith is gone, he looks for other things to fill void before he does something drastic, so Antonio goes to the lady the sees the light. He somewhat believes her, but thinks he and his son, Bruno, will do better just looking for the bike until it is found. This is when Antonio decides his only option is to steal someone else bike to try and better his own life while taking from someone else’s. Antonio’s bike theft was unsuccessful since he was caught moments after hoping on the bike, and his facial reaction while be taken off the bike can be seen as regret and sorrowful because Antonio knew what he did was wrong and that he was setting a bad example for Bruno. Overall, the symbolism within this movie shows when one loses faith, they also lose their ideals and morals and will do something drastic unless something can be found to replace the lost faith.
ReplyDeleteIn “Bicycle Thieves,” Antonio loses much of his appreciation for those around him and beauty in life in his desperate search for his bike. At the beginning of the film, Antonio seems like a genuine and nice person who cares for the people around him. He seems genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of his family when his wife decides to sell the sheets to purchase the bike. He also proudly and warmly shows her his new job, and then rides home with her on the bike, which he also seems quite overjoyed to own and appreciates both it and his job. He shows pride in his son’s mature behavior and knowledge of bicycle machinery, ruffling his hair and smiling at him. He also talks to Bruno, his son, as if he is a grown adult who is capable of making his own decisions, and generally treats him with respect. Finally, as he leaves the apartment, he gives a warm smile to his infant child. These are all emotions and actions that Antonio starts doing less and less of as the course of the film progresses. A key example of this is his treatment of Bruno in the later parts of the film. He begins to treat Bruno more like a child, verbally reprimanding him and slapping him in the face. He also stops paying attention to Bruno to the point where he sometimes forgets to make sure that Bruno is following him, and also not noticing occasions in which Bruno falls over in the mud or almost gets hit by a car. These scenes show that Antonio no longer thinks so highly of his son, as he is forgetting that he is even there. This is in sharp contrast to the start of the film, in which Bruno is clearly always on Antonio’s mind and is a symbol of pride for him, which shows that Antonio has now lost his appreciation for Bruno’s mature personality. Similarly, Antonio stops taking time to enjoy the subtle moments in his life, such as riding home with his wife. There is a brief moment at the restaurant when Antonio seems to be appreciating his meal, but it quickly becomes clear that the bike is still the only thing on his mind. By the end of the film, this is all that he cares about, and no longer appreciates anything else. In this way, he has lost faith in life, which is directly symbolised by the loss of his bike - a Fides, or “faith.” This finally culminates in him stealing another bike, which shows that he does not care about the wellbeing of others anymore and will do anything to just to regain his own happiness.
ReplyDeleteIn the film “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio’s bicycle is produced by fides. At first fides may not mean anything to the viewer of the film without further digging, but fides does in fact retain a much larger meaning as it is faith in Latin. The idea of faith flows throughout much of this Italian film. In an economic depression in Italy, Antonio does not have a job at the beginning of the film and needs to support his wife and son, Bruno. In a huge crowd of citizens waiting to get jobs assigned to them, Antonio is called upon, but in order to accept the job he must have a bike readily available for his use. He accepts then goes to get his Fides bike! This bike is extremely valuable to Antonio and his family as it is going to help him provide for them in order to live a better life, so Antonio heavily relies on his bike and has all of his faith within it. Soon after Antonio begins his job, his bike is stolen! Throughout the film, we see Antonio go through an emotional journey and investigation as time progresses without his bike we see Antonio lose his faith and himself. At first Antonio seemed to be a polite man who wanted an honest living to support his family but he loses his morals as he keeps searching for his bike. He assaults multiple people, interrupts church, and eventually strikes his own son. Antonio’s life and morality directly connect to his faith in his bike which is essentially his path to success for his family.
ReplyDeleteIn Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" Antonio not only loses his bike Fides, but also loses his faith in the people around him, his faith in himself, and his faith in being able to ever finding a bike again.
ReplyDeleteLet's begin with him losing faith in the people around him. Throughout the movie, it's clear to us the viewers that Antonio is not well respected in society. It seems that wherever he goes, he's usually treated as below the others around him, despite them obviously being in similar dire straits as he is. The first time we see this is actually with the bike heist itself. When we see the miscreant, it is pretty obvious from his dirty clothes and beat down look that he is not in a great financial situation. It's obvious that he is not in any better of a stature than Antonio. But then, when the person is running away with Antonio's bike, no one pursued him. Instead, everyone continued on with their lives as though they didn't see that his bike got stolen. Antonio didn't matter to anyone at all in this scene, and it shows in how desperate he becomes in trying to recover his bicycle.
Moving on to the second point of losing faith in himself, it's clear that his self esteem and dignity was severely damaged. He began to become so desperate for a bike towards the end that he began to lose sight of himself and his family. In other words, he stopped believing in himself and chose to only search for his bike. Instead of maybe taking it slow and just accepting that he would not be able to find his bike, his desperation and faith in himself to accept and move on was so low that he just decided to pursue his bike with no concern about anything else. What all this shows is that he doesn't trust himself to find a way out of this situation and believes that his value is only in his job. Similar to the old man in the Last Laugh who thought he was nothing without the uniform, so does Antonio. He believes he is nothing without his job and his bike.
That leads us into our final point, that being that Antonio will not be able to find a bike ever again. Having gone the whole story losing faith in everyone around him and losing faith in himself, he always believed that everything could be solved by finding his Fides bike. That no matter how bad or desperate things got for him, if he just persevered long enough to get his bike, that all would be solved and all would be well in his life. But sadly, even that hope is taken away from him when we reach the end of the film, and Antonio is left to have to walk all the way back home, defeated and completely demoralized. After becoming so disenfranchised with himself and society, he had one last ditch hope of potentially stealing a bicycle, one last hope of keeping his job and life intact, only to fail. What adds to the tragedy is that when his own bike was stolen, no one tried to stop the criminal. But when Antonio did the same, he was pursued at length. Such is the plight that faced him. Everything he cared for, himself, his family, others, and his bike, was snatched away from him, and thus symbolized his tragedy.
In Bicycle Thieves, when Antonio loses his bike he also loses his faith in himself, the justice system, and others. When Antonio is given a job opportunity at the beginning of the movie, he is excited for the chance to provide for his family. He talks with his wife who quickly suggests they sell the sheets off their bed so that he can buy back his bike from the pawnshop. Antonio’s happiness is revealed when he yells, “It’s the Fides, next to the red bike” followed by a close up of him and his wife, both grinning ear to ear. In the following scenes leading up to the theft of Antonio’s bike, he is shown walking around town holding his bike on his shoulder for everyone to see. He is proud of his new job and the opportunities it presents for his family. Unfortunately, everything changes when Antonio’s bike is stolen while he is putting up a poster. In a frantic attempt to catch the crook, Antonio jumps on a taxi and tells the driver to follow the bike. One of the robber’s accomplices also jumps on the taxi, pretending to help. He tells the driver to go the wrong way so that the bike thief can escape. The taxi goes the wrong way and the thief escapes with Antonio’s bike. That night, Antonio does not return home because he does not want to disappoint his wife. Instead, he goes to the police and tells them what happened. To Antonio’s chagrin, the police officer does not care about his stolen bike claiming that they will never find the bike. While the bike is obviously important to Antonio, the police officer pays no attention and leaves for a political event. Following this encounter, Antonio loses faith in the justice system, and realizes they do not care about his bike because of his low social status. His loss of faith is illustrated by Antonio’s decision to take matters into his own hands and enlist some of his friends to help him look for the stolen bike. The next morning, Antonio and his friends search all of the bike stores in town looking for the stolen bike. When they do not find anything, Antonio goes off on his own with his son Bruce. Antonio becomes extremely anxious at this point and trusts no one other than himself and his son to look for the bike. However, while losing faith in others and the justice system is not a good thing for Antonio, he experiences his lowest point when he loses faith in himself. After a long day searching, Antonio finally finds the man who stole his bike and confronts him. However, with no evidence and no witnesses, Antonio does not receive any help from a nearby police officer and cannot recover his lost bicycle. While walking through the street that afternoon, Antonio is on the verge of giving up. Suddenly, he sees a lone bike sitting outside of an apartment building. The viewer sees Antonio’s inner struggle as he contemplates whether to steal the bike. The fact that he considers stealing a bike to replace his old one highlights Antonio’s loss of faith in himself, others, and the justice system. He recognizes he will not retrieve his old bike and makes the same decision as the bike thief who stole Antonio’s bike. Antonio eventually decides to steal the bike. While he is unsuccessful, the damage has already been done to Antonio’s faith and he ends the movie, walking home with his son and looking defeated. The lost Fides bike is a symbol of the faith that Antonio lost throughout the movie.
ReplyDeleteStone Zashin
ReplyDeleteAntonio's bike is not just a bike it's his transportation to a better quality of life. The bike is a symbol for an opportunity as each day he rides it, he lengthens his path for a better life. Once his bicycle is stolen, he loses his faith in the justice system and eventually himself. He would no longer keep his job and be forced to go back to having no income. Back when Antonio was allowed to work, we see the scene in which the camera cuts, and we see an excited Antonio who gains his Fides bike back. His genuine happiness leads to a burst of pleasure as he finally has his faith restored. Once his bike is gone and he loses his faith in humanity, he spirals downward. He initially has 'faith' that he will find his bike, but it clarifies that the chance is extremely slim. Even when he gets a lead on the bike, he cannot capitalize and find it. Fides is the name of his bike, but its significance is a central point in the plot. As a viewer, why doesn't he try to buy a different bike (or borrow one). But he has this manliness about himself. He has faith in himself, and his pride overrules his ability to ask for help. Another symbol in the film is the relationship that Antonio has with his son Bruno. His son seems to be quite intelligent for his age, and he looks up to his father. That is why we don't see Antonio give up for loose faith until the very end. As Fides is an overarching topic for a film, we see a man who suddenly lost his Fides and his opportunity for success.
In "Bicycle Thief's", when the bike is stolen from Antonio's family, their future is stolen as well. In the beginning of the movie, the importance Antonio purchasing his bike back is exemplified in his reaction to the job offer. Antonio's initial reaction to his wife was that purchasing this bicycle was of the upmost severity. As if it was life or death. This is supported by the family sacrificing their bedsheets for money. This establishes that the family is not only poor, but that this bicycle is full or sacrifice and investment. Once this bike is stolen, Antonio loses everything. After he failed to retrieve the stolen bicycle, he was so focused on what he lost, that he couldn't even consider the future. Yes, he lost the bicycle and the linen he invested, however surely they would be capable of sacrificing a little bit more, to get the job. Antonio even recklessly spent money on expensive food, and a fortune teller! Antonio's short-sightedness shows that the bike represented more than a loss on investment. It was more of a loss in faith of the future and his own morality. Antonio could not see past this set back so he decided to try and cheat the system, making him just as blameworthy as the original bicycle thief. Finally, the loss of the bicycle represented a loss of faith in the justice institutions and other people. For instance, After Antonio lost his bike, the police simply disregarded his case. In fact the police were not very helpful at all throughout the multiple occasions where Antonio needed them. Thus Antonio lost so much faith in the police, that he took it upon himself to get his bike back. Also, his loss in his faith of others can be represented by his deteriorating relationship with his son. He slowly pushed his son away and disregarded his desire to assist, leaving the boy sad and lonely. This Fides bike was everything to Antonio, and when the bike was lost, so was Antonio's future.
ReplyDelete-Connor Carlson
In Bicycle Thieves, the brand of Antonio’s bicycle is “Fides”, which translates to faith, in latin, so when it gets stolen he also symbolically loses his faith in the decency of humanity. At first, Anthony is portrayed as a very wholesome family man, who will do anything to help them succeed. He patiently waits until he is offered a job, and then seems genuinely excited to tell his family that he will earn money for them. He is so determined to get this bike that his wife ended up having to sell their sheets to pay for it, and he acts very grateful for her sacrifice. At this point, he is still very happy and because he got a job he believes that the universe is on his side. It is not until he gets his bike stolen while working that he loses his faith in the goodness of people. First off, he is heartbroken at the fact that anyone would steal something from such an innocent, goodwill person. On top of that, he is shocked at the fact that the people around him all did not help to stop the thief. This is the initial breaking of his trust. He becomes increasingly frustrated when he can’t find his bike after looking for a while. He seems truly sad that he won’t be able to provide for his family like he thought he would with his new job. His faith in the good of humanity is broken because he just simply can’t wrap his head around why something so bad would happen to someone with such good intentions. The last straw is when he finds the boy who stole his bike and confronts him. The thief denies committing the crime and all of his friends and family vocally back him up. Antonio tries to involve a cop to get justice, but he reveals that he cannot do anything unless he has witnesses, which he does not. So, the thief gets away free and Antonio is left shattered by the ferocity of the universe and the people within. He demonstrates his discouraged heart by attempting to steal a bike for himself because he saw someone else get away with it. However, this goes horribly wrong and he gets caught almost immediately by nearby people who chastise him for being a terrible, immoral person. So, as he watches everything go wrong for himself, who wants nothing but happiness for his family, and everything go right for the “bad” guy, he truly loses any last hope in the virtue of humankind.
ReplyDeleteIn “Bicycle Thieves”, Antonio's bicycle symbolizes the trust and confidence he has in humanity. At the beginning of the film, Antonio is given a job desired by many other civilians. After Antonio reveals that he does not own a bicycle, a man pops up from the crowd saying, "I have a bicycle." Another man responds, "You're not the only one! I do too." These sudden expressions of interest demonstrate how lucky Antonio is to be given the job of putting up posters. At this moment, his faith in humanity increases because things are finally beginning to come along for his family. When Antonio retrieves his bicycle from the pawnshop, his faith in humanity is at its peak; he is both in possession of "Fides" physically and metaphorically. The final smile he shines at his wife before leaving for his first day on the job exemplifies the height of Antonio's happiness throughout the film. However, his trust and confidence in humanity gradually decrease once his bicycle is stolen. When he goes to file a missing report at the station, he trusts that his bicycle will be found because he has provided the officer the bicycle's "description and the license plate." He still tries to focus on the situation's positive angle, but must force himself to construct such a mentality. As time progresses, his trust in others continues to decline. In the scene where Antonio confronts the man working on a bicycle's paint job, Antonio pleads to see the bicycle's serial number. The man working on the bike assures Antonio that it is not Antonio's. However, Antonio's paranoia has now furthered his lack of trust. His lack of faith in the man's words is indicative when he calls a police officer over to force the man to let him see the bicycle's serial number. Towards the end of the film, when Antonio correctly identifies the culprit, his faith in humanity reaches its low as nobody in the town trusts him. He shouts, "You're all alike. You're all thieves." His anger pushes him to marginalize everyone in the city as criminals. In the end, the further Antonio gets from "Fides," the further he gets from his faith in humanity.
ReplyDeleteAntonio’s bike is even more of a symbol than an actual object in the story. It represents the struggle of poverty and the last hope to rise out of it and be able to afford basic needs. Throughout the movie we find Antonio to have little religious preference or beliefs, he doesn’t show respect in the church, and only goes to the “seeing” woman when all else fails. In this feeling of non-believing, there is no higher force to help him, the burden of seeking a job when there are very few, putting food on the table, and being successful is all up to him, he is alone. In this dismal world where no one is going to help him but himself, he suddenly gets a job, but in order to keep the job and feed his family, he needs his bike back. This bike becomes a symbol for the hope he has to elevate his family out of extreme poverty and be able to provide. Right as the job is placed in his hands, it is yanked away when his bike is stolen. Throughout the movie, he is simply searching for a lost dream he has to provide for his family and have success. When he fails to find the bicycle it represents the loss he has in both faith in himself, the system, and a possible higher force which he starts to seem as if he believes in as we near the end. At the end of the movie when he doesn’t find his bike again, it represents the lost hope of being successful. His family will sink into deeper and deeper poverty as he searches for a job, selling all of their things in order to feed themselves, a phenomenon pictured very clearly throughout the film as we follow him on his journey to find his bike.
ReplyDeleteBicycle Thieves is predicated on the idea on man’s loss of faith in his soul. Through the loss of the bike ‘Fides’ we see the gradual denaturation of Antonio, from the high-spirited, family-focused worker who chases a bicycle thieve to a bicycle thieve himself. How does a man become the very thing he despises? One minute he trashes a thief and the next he becomes one himself. One might believe that the metamorphosis is through the loss of faith is in institutions: the justice system in the church. However, the real loss of faith, what brings Antonio to his knees, is his loss of faith in himself.
ReplyDeleteThe symbol of spirituality and the soul is a recurring metaphor throughout the film. Faith is closely tied to the immaterial in this film. At the beginning Antonio finds his faith through his access to material conditions and his personal pride. His love of the material is ethereal, he even sells his own bedsheets just to purchase his bike back and obtain the job that is the key to his income mobility. He gawks at the upper classes with envy, as he explains to Bruno that his goal for obtaining the job was to make as much as them. Even when he loses the bike, the proverbial ‘Faith’ in the material, Antonio continues his crusade towards reclaiming his faith. He even rejects the faith of the church in favor of his material possessions. But alas, as we pan away from Antonio and Bruno in the final scene, we see there is no faith in the material. Not even a brief excursion with crime could restore Antonio’s faith in it. Possibly the most interesting demonstration of this dichotomy of the film is in Antonio’s evolving relationship with the fortune teller. In the beginning he brushes aside his wife’s confidence in the guru’s predictive abilities, labeling it as a foolish endeavor for people with no prospects. His new job and financial prospects are a substitute for faith in the mystic. But, as we see near the end of the film, Antonio becomes the very person he ridiculed, begging the guru to give him some semblance of incorporeal faith. His changing relationship with the mystic is representative with his evolving relationship with his own faith. No longer capable of finding truth in the material, he reaches out to the otherworldly.
Bruno is an interesting foil to view the progression of Antonio’s faith. As Antonio slowly loses his faith in the material and himself, he begins to disregard Bruno. Bruno represents that faith that Antonio had in himself. As he explains in the diner, he wanted Bruno to have the life of luxury that he envied. As time progresses, he becomes more desperate to find the bike, to restore the faith in the material that lived vicariously through for his son. This culminates with the stealing of the bike, Antonio’s final grasp of retaining his faith in the material. One scene that particularly illustrates this relationship is when Bruno disappears near the river. In rapid succession we see Antonio greeted with images of his failure, a drowning child, screaming people, and, finally, Bruno at the top of a flight of stairs. In a high angle shot we see Antonio climbing up the staircase to be level with his son, Bruno is the lofty ideals that we see Antonio fail to live up to. In his frantic search for the bike, he loses touch with his faith he imposed in his son, eventually nearly losing to the rapids. In the final scene of the film, we watch as Bruno and Antonio walk into the crowd, perhaps truly lost, in material and in faith.