Head's Up!

Hi Film Appreciation ladies and dudes.
Just a quick head's up, I may show a different film tomorrow, or even short films. I haven't completely decided yet. I also reserve the right to show Beyond the Valley of the Dolls as planned. We'll see!.........Stacy

Canceled Class Monday

Hi film class.
I apologize for canceling class tonight. I live in University City, MO and was in traffic from 4:30 to 7:15 trying to get to SWIC. Traffic was gridlocked for 15 miles because of what you see in the photo. I-55 at the state line was abruptly flooded in the storm and was closed in the middle of rush hour, stranding cars in the middle.

Anyway, you evaded a quiz this time! Look for one on Monday. Also your term papers are due at the beginning of class. Good luck! Stacy.

Keeping it Real

Bicycle Thief has everything that a bad day has in it for all of us. Antonio's bike gets stolen, he gets rained on, he can't make any money and he gets beat up. Just when opportunity is knocking the world seem to have a way to makes answering the door impossible. I imagine this scenario is even more true for the people of a war torn country. The way the camera almost never looks away moving through the city puts you in the terrible day with Antonio and Bruno. There is no cut away, transition, or fade to save you from the reality that this is neorealism and there will be no warm and fuzzy at the end.
According to Moviediva.com the poster that Antonio is hired to paste on the walls of the city is of Rita Hayworth in the movie Gilda. The essay on Bicycle Thief goes on to speak of the irony of this event taking place in the back story of an Italian neorealism film since Gilda is an example of the escapism that most people of Italy wanted. I imagine watching this film again would yield many more powerful messages, I loved it!
Kevin Washington

The bicycle thief

This film was an italian neo realism that portrayed a man and his son, and their struggling family. Its obviously an on location film in the crowded city streets of rome. Traffic everywere, people everywere and ect.

The movie also goes to show alot of residential areas in the downtown portions of the city,such as when our main characters were confronted, by wat seemed to be a mafia type crowd, when he found his bicycle thief.

Over all, the structure of the movie gave a old school real life feel. It seemed not to have much structure at first up until the bicyle was stolen. The movie came off as to what seemed to be an ordinary day for our character, and really did not have that hollywood resolution or happy ending.



Dom Wheeler

The Bicycle Thief

The Bicycle Thief is a story of struggle that knows no borders to race, gender, time, or space. I can totally see why this film was part of the Italian Neo-Realism movement, it showed how life was for people then without sugar-coating it. There were extremely long takes on the confrontations that the main character had gotten himself into, in particular when he accused the thief of stealing his bicycle and the community came to the aid of the thief. Judging by the size of the buildings and the lighting the crew was most certainly on location in the streets of Italy. Although most the actors were non-professional, they acted so well in fact that I feel they were better than most are today. They did however have one thing on their side, this kind of behavior and life was normal for the area and time frame it was filmed in. Around 99% of the scenes were filmed in very rural working class areas. The other 1% was when they went into the bar to get "tore up" and forget everything. Unfortunately there wasn't a real resolution at the end of the movie, but this is the truth of the matter. I feel the director was trying to make a statement that there are no real resolutions in life, only compromises.

Jake H.

Dude, Where's my Bike?

This movie could be used to define neorealism. It certainly was taken place in a natural setting and had a very local feel to it. Watching this movie made me feel like a friend told me a story and it is exaclty as I would envision it. The lack of hollywood resolution in this movie really showed its reality since in the real world people do not always get their problems solved the conventional way.

By: Omar Reece

The Real Bicycle Thief

I thought The Bicycle Thief fit the bill for Italian Neorealism flawlessly. It was set on-location in the busy streets of Rome's working class neighborhoods. The real time action showed us everyday people of the time struggling to feed their families and stay out of the streets. There was no resolution, as Antonio never finds his bicycle and continues to walk through the poverished streets. I'm not sure if the actors were professional or not, but I'm assuming huge Italian celebrities of the day wouldn't have shown the world how ugly their country was becoming by playing roles such as Antonio's. Nonetheless, I thought the actor who played him did a phenomenal job of portraying the effects a Facist government has on ordinary people.

With that being said, the real "bicycle thief" was not the man in the street, but rather the government, or (more specifically) Mussolini. A bicycle is typically a symbol of freedom, as one pedals it exactly where he/she wants to go. In fact, movies such as The Wizard of Oz depict people who ride bicycles, such as Dorothy, as having a hunger for freedom. Therefore, it didn't matter who literally stole Antonio's bicycle; what matters is that its absense has a lasting effect on Antonio and the police (a product of the government) could care less. That bicycle was to be a "way out" of the streets for him, as it provided him work and allowed his family to eat. At the film's end, however, Antonio is seen walking hopelessly through the streets among the others, proving that the government has robbed him of his freedom. This is completely different from the Antonio who sits to the side and refuses to beg for a job that we see at the beginning of the movie.

Paige Brinkmann