The Bicycle thief - Antonio and Bruno's relationship .
On one level, the film is about the economical crisis and the unemployment in Italy during the post-war period. It is a society where the poverty drives people to criminal offences. No one seems to care about others because everybody has their own problems. Not even the police are very helpful, when Antonio reports his stolen bike. The only sign of humanity is in the end when the man, from whom Antonio steels the bike, does not want to press charges against him, but seems to feel sorry for him instead. On another level it is a movie showing the relationship between a father and his son, and when a son's adoration for his father suddenly is being replaced with less admiration and more realism. .
Antonio and Bruno are almost together during the entire film. After Antonio gets his bike stolen, Bruno follows him around in the city of Rome to find it again. Before this happens we see that Bruno is trying to be like his father. In the scene where Antonio is going to work for the first time, Bruno is cleaning the bike for him, wearing the same work clothes, and getting the same lunch as Antonio; just smaller. He puts his lunch in his breast pocket exactly like his father and when they are riding on the bike, Bruno has a content expression on his face, feeling proud that his father has a job. .
Already in the evening the same day, Bruno's admiration for Antonio gets affected by the fact that Antonio is too late. Bruno has been waiting for him, and feels let down by his father who had promised to be there earlier. When Antonio gives a reason why he is late, Bruno just follows him again like the little boy who looks up to father, but he is still wondering about the bike. .
Bruno's uncritical acceptance of his father's authority is significantly disrupted at several other points in the film. When Antonio takes out his frustrations on his son and slaps him with little apparent cause, Bruno refuses all visual contact with Antonio for some time.