A movie that changed my life

by tesrygkhl' 7:40 AM 0 comments Classic Movies Movies Old Movies The bicycle thieves

The one movie I watched that changed my life the most is Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Directed by: Vittorio De Sica.

Story:

One man named Ricci who haunts the job lines day after day to provide for his wife and two children, when suddenly his name is called for a well-paying city job. The only catch is that he needs a bicycle for the job, and he has just pawned his bicycle in order to feed his family. Thus begins `The Bicycle Thief', Vittorio de Sica's gritty study in realism. Ricci and his wife sell the sheets off of their beds to get the bicycle back, only to have the bicycle stolen on his first day on the job. In order to keep the job, he and his young son walk around Rome, desperate to find the thief, and more importantly, the bicycle before his next day of work.

The screenplay is simplistic, provoking and at times brutal, while the cinematography is so magnificently beautiful that it appears as though a soul of a man has been filmed.

I saw this movie from the son's perspective. Bruno adores his dad, Ricci is his hero, he is sure that nothing can go wrong with him when he is with his father.

After his bike is stolen, Ricci is frustrated. Angry with his fate. Bruno still idolizes his dad, but as the search for the bicycle continues he sees his dad in a new light. Frustration, Breakdown, Helplessness and disappointment are not the things a young son expects to see in his father. Ricci and Bruno search for the bicycle everywhere, but couldn’t find it. Moreover the police are no help.

We look to our fathers as protectors and providers, our superman. Dad works hard to keep a roof over our head and food on the table. There are times when he buys nothing for himself, but make sure that our demands are fulfilled. He sacrifice more than he should, just to see us happy. We knew he loved us. We knew he would be there for us.

Ricci is so frustrated that he just say "You live and suffer," to Bruno. "To hell with it! You want a pizza?" and they go in a restaurant, Bruno even allowed to drink a little wine. But the privileged moment is too short-lived, Bruno looks wistfully at a family eating platters of pasta. When Ricci says"To eat like that, you need a million lira a month at least."

It always remind me those days when my father had a bad day or no income at all, still he managed to give me and my brother every thing we asked. We never thought about what he must be going through, does he even have money to pay? can he afford it? But we asked and he gave it.

The hardest thing is to see the father descending the moral ladder in front of their child. When Ricci is convinced that he is not getting the bicycle back, he decides to steal one. Before doing that, Ricci sends Bruno home alone; but Bruno miss the tram and when he is going back to his father, he is shocked to see that his father has stolen a bicycle and trying to escape the angry mob. Ricci is not fast enough to evade and captured by the mob who are now beating him in the middle of the road. While Bruno is finding his way to get inside the crowd and to reach near his father.

The 5 year old kid is trying to stop the mob but its not happening. He is afraid, crying, he cannot see his hero being helpless and being beaten up. There is this scene where Ricci and Bruno look at each other and talk through their eyes, "Dad, they are beating you, and i am not able to stop them", "Its alright son, i am perfectly fine, don't worry, everything will be fine. Go home" .

The last scene when Ricci and Bruno are walking home, Ricci is embarrassed, he is not able to make an eye contact with his son, he thinks that he is a looser. When suddenly Bruno holds his hand, "you are still my hero, and we will overcome this together, don't lose hope dad, I love you".

The connection between the two characters always makes me cry. This movie changed my perspective towards life. I respect my dad more than I ever did. When i was in my teenage, i use to think that my parents are pain in the rear. They are irritating and they don’t know anything. I use to be rude to them, give them back answers. Hell I use to steal money from my dad's wallet. I use to avoid talking to them as i use to find them boring. They were the last in my priority list.

But after this movie, i released that I was wrong. That my parents are the best and I don't deserve them. I was convinced that they deserve better son than me. 

From that day I changed myself completely, its been 8, almost 9 years now from the day I saw this movie for the first time. Never back answered them, never asked or expected anything from them, never. I make sure I give them time, give them love they deserve. I have liberty to do anything, they don't question me. But i still do everything which will make them happy. I regret my behavior when i was a teen, this movie brought me back on tracks. I am sure that not this movie, my life would have been something different and bad. Because the wishlist and idea of fun I had at that time was never gonna get completed with the money my dad had, and i would have been doing something illegal or unethical to cope with them.

We as materialistic and avaricious people tend to not value the possessions that belong to us, and once that we lose them we don't do anything more productive than complaining and to regret our loss. So, better late than never.