The film "Bicycle Thieves" is about a man named Antonio Ricci and his desperate efforts to support his family during the reconstruction period in Rome after the second world war. In the film, he finds work through a local employment union gluing posters around town and is told that he will need a bicycle for the work offered. He and his family are struggling and resorted to pawning their sleeping linen to be able to retrieve Antonio's bicycle back from the pawn shop. His first day on the job his bicycle is almost immediately stolen by a seemingly experienced pair of thieves. One of the two men rode away with his bicycle while the thief's partner distracted Antonio and lead him in the wrong direction chasing after his bicycle. Antonio turns to the police for help and he is told the search for his bicycle is not a priority to the police force. The majority of the film is about Antonio, his young son Bruno, Antonio's wife Maria, and his comrades from the employment union searching Rome for clues about where he might find his stolen bicycle or the thieves who stole it.
Chosen Scene: 01:22:35 – 01:24:53 .
The scene I picked is towards the end of the movie when Antonio and his son are at their last straw searching for the stolen bicycle. After just being chased off by the thief's family and friends they begin to lose hope and Antonio enter a state of psychosis in which he is pushed to the edge and attempts to steal a nearby bicycle. This is a very thought provoking scene and displays how a bad situation and bad luck can man a criminal out of an honest man.
1. The first scene is very short only about a second or two long. It's a two shot close up of Antonio and Bruno sitting on the curb not far from a large soccer stadium. Both of them are expressing emotion of defeat. They look at each other, then look to the stadium as the crowd roars out with excitement.
2. Cut away to the next scene even shorter than the last only lasting a fraction of a second.