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DAVID THORBURN: Good
evening, people.

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00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,770
We continue our
discussion of neorealism

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00:00:24,770 --> 00:00:28,360
by looking closely tonight
at one classic instance

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00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,160
of the neorealist
movement, the single most

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00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:37,920
famous film from that
school, Bicycle Thieves.

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00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,190
Before I turn to talking a
bit about aspects of Bicycle

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00:00:42,190 --> 00:00:45,270
Thieves itself, which
I hope will frame

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00:00:45,270 --> 00:00:48,340
your viewing in a way that
will help you get a lot out

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00:00:48,340 --> 00:00:50,240
of the first
viewing of the film,

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00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,720
I want to say a few words
about Vittorio De Sica himself.

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00:00:56,660 --> 00:01:01,050
I mentioned this afternoon
that the neorealist movement,

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although it was
immensely influential

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00:01:02,620 --> 00:01:08,600
and continues to be influential,
in fact, on realist filmmakers

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00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:14,930
and on documentarians, and it
was especially in its earliest

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00:01:14,930 --> 00:01:20,000
phases, hailed globally as
a very remarkable movement,

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00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,320
it incited criticism almost
from the beginning inside Italy.

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And I suggested
it this afternoon

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00:01:27,510 --> 00:01:29,590
that some complaints
against movie

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00:01:29,590 --> 00:01:31,960
essentially came from
conservative forces

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00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:35,610
in the society that felt
that the portrait of decay

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00:01:35,610 --> 00:01:38,140
and breakdown and
dislocation that

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00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:40,890
was at the center of neorealist
films-- after all, they

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00:01:40,890 --> 00:01:42,430
were about the
contemporary world

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00:01:42,430 --> 00:01:48,200
and about the broken universe,
the broken planet, at least

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00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,330
a broken Europe that we
encountered after the war.

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00:01:52,330 --> 00:01:57,080
There were many kinds of
conservatives in Italy

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00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:01,010
who felt that it promulgated a
bad image for the society, that

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00:02:01,010 --> 00:02:05,390
made investment more difficult,
that it was a kind of downer.

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00:02:05,390 --> 00:02:07,350
And this criticism
was very powerful.

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00:02:07,350 --> 00:02:09,960
But what really
undermined the movement

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00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,770
in terms of getting financing,
the reason that the movement

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00:02:12,770 --> 00:02:15,480
sort of ended after
about the time Umberto

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00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:20,060
D, the last of the
truly neorealist films

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00:02:20,060 --> 00:02:24,020
that De Sica made,
was produced in 1952.

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00:02:24,020 --> 00:02:26,474
It's life was very, very brief.

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00:02:26,474 --> 00:02:28,640
Many people would say that
was the end of neorealism

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00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:30,056
although there are
some films that

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00:02:30,056 --> 00:02:34,300
come after that have neorealist
dimensions and elements in them

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00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:37,020
including some by Fellini.

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00:02:37,020 --> 00:02:39,400
Still the idea that the
movement had a very short life

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00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,247
despite its immense influences
it is an accurate one.

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00:02:42,247 --> 00:02:43,830
But what I had left
out this afternoon

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00:02:43,830 --> 00:02:45,930
is an important
qualification or addition

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00:02:45,930 --> 00:02:49,020
which is that the films
also incited criticism

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00:02:49,020 --> 00:02:49,625
from the left.

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00:02:52,212 --> 00:02:53,670
When you see Bicycle
Thieves you'll

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00:02:53,670 --> 00:02:56,410
see why that might
be a surprising fact,

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00:02:56,410 --> 00:02:58,670
because the
sympathies of the film

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00:02:58,670 --> 00:03:02,060
are so totally on the side
of the underprivileged

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00:03:02,060 --> 00:03:05,130
and the underclasses
of the culture.

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00:03:05,130 --> 00:03:08,320
It's difficult from our
contemporary vantage point

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00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:10,850
to see what would've
offended leftists.

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00:03:10,850 --> 00:03:16,310
But there was a very
vigorous and theoretically

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sophisticated communist
movement in Italy in this period

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as there continues to
be today in some degree.

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And many people on the
left, especially communists,

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but socialists as
well, also complained

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about neorealist films.

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In particular about
De Sica's films

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because their
complaint was not that

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the difficulties of the
World War were exposed.

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They were perfectly
happy with that.

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But they were angry
that there wasn't

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a program for renovation.

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What they were
really angry about

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00:03:46,434 --> 00:03:49,880
was that there wasn't a Marxist
or a socialist program built

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into the films.

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00:03:51,270 --> 00:03:54,410
And it's always struck me as a
very revealing and interesting

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fact about the movement that
it couldn't satisfy either left

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or right, even though
these films are

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among the most powerful
and compassionate films

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about the lives of ordinary--
not just ordinary people,

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00:04:08,990 --> 00:04:11,910
but people without power,
of people without control

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over their lives that
have ever been made.

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So it's a curious fact.

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It bothered De Sica
all his life that he

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seemed unable to
please either side

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in that political argument.

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And at one point in an
interview he said something--

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if I could find my notes,
I'd like to quote to you.

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00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,274
He said in response
to a question

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00:04:38,274 --> 00:04:40,190
that asked him why do
you think the socialists

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00:04:40,190 --> 00:04:42,150
and the communists were
somewhat-- or at least

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00:04:42,150 --> 00:04:44,120
some socialists, so
remember Zavattini

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was a socialist, so he
collaborated deeply and loved

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00:04:47,665 --> 00:04:50,560
De Sica and collaborated with
him on his most important film.

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00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,940
So I don't mean that all
socialists thought ill

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00:04:52,940 --> 00:04:54,040
of neorealism.

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00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:55,720
They did not.

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00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,986
But some did and certainly
people on the far left

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00:04:57,986 --> 00:04:58,610
definitely did.

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00:04:58,610 --> 00:05:02,820
And here was De Sica's
response to why-- he expressed

100
00:05:02,820 --> 00:05:04,310
disappointment about this.

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00:05:04,310 --> 00:05:06,540
But his response really
in a way is a critique

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00:05:06,540 --> 00:05:10,680
of the programmatic
demands that these people

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00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:12,190
were making on his films.

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00:05:12,190 --> 00:05:15,710
He said, "My films are a
struggle against the absence

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of human solidarity."

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00:05:17,970 --> 00:05:20,800
You should think
about this quotation

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00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,670
as you're watching tonight's
film because as you'll

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00:05:23,670 --> 00:05:26,850
see in the film, the official
institutions of the society

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00:05:26,850 --> 00:05:28,470
seem to have broken
down or at least

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00:05:28,470 --> 00:05:32,890
to have become not effective.

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00:05:32,890 --> 00:05:34,630
They're overburdened.

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00:05:34,630 --> 00:05:36,590
They're somewhat indifferent.

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00:05:36,590 --> 00:05:38,090
It's mostly that
there overburdened,

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00:05:38,090 --> 00:05:39,900
that the problems
of the society are

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00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:42,430
too great for the
institutional structures that

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00:05:42,430 --> 00:05:45,540
are in place to
handle the problems.

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00:05:45,540 --> 00:05:49,610
But in any case as
you're watching the film,

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00:05:49,610 --> 00:05:51,710
I think you'll notice
not only that clearly

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00:05:51,710 --> 00:05:53,280
this breakdown of
institutions are

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00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,090
very-- that we
might expect to be

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00:05:56,090 --> 00:05:58,440
helpful to Ricci in his quest.

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00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,130
But what we will
also discover is

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00:06:00,130 --> 00:06:02,400
that there are other
forms of solidarity

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00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,740
that emerge in the film.

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00:06:03,740 --> 00:06:06,210
One of them is the solidarity
of husband and wife.

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00:06:06,210 --> 00:06:09,230
Another is the solidarity
very much tested in the film.

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00:06:09,230 --> 00:06:12,150
It's the great central theme
of the film, the solidarity

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00:06:12,150 --> 00:06:13,570
of father and son.

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00:06:13,570 --> 00:06:15,180
And then there's
also the solidarity

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00:06:15,180 --> 00:06:17,640
of what we might call
neighbors or neighborhoods.

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00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,380
And you'll see how
that element works

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00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:23,280
toward the end of the film in
its remarkable and surprising

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00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:24,470
conclusion.

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Now here's the quotation.

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00:06:25,810 --> 00:06:27,920
"My films are a struggle
against the absence

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00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,700
of human solidarity against
the indifference of society

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00:06:31,700 --> 00:06:33,510
towards suffering.

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00:06:33,510 --> 00:06:38,820
They are a word in favor of
the poor and the unhappy."

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00:06:38,820 --> 00:06:40,870
One reason I like the
statement is it so,

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00:06:40,870 --> 00:06:43,630
in a certain sense,
unsystematic.

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00:06:43,630 --> 00:06:46,980
It shows-- they seem to me
to be the words of an artist

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00:06:46,980 --> 00:06:48,900
not a political pamphleteer.

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00:06:48,900 --> 00:06:53,090
And they partly explain the
richness, the resonance,

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00:06:53,090 --> 00:06:55,640
what I've been calling the
multiplicity of Bicycle

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00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,760
Thieves.

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00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,380
There's a moment
in Bicycle Thieves

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00:07:00,380 --> 00:07:03,210
about which Andre Bazin has
written very beautifully.

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00:07:03,210 --> 00:07:06,920
The same critic
that was a champion

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00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,790
of French poetic realism and
of genre and of war of course

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00:07:11,790 --> 00:07:13,390
becomes one of the
great champions

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00:07:13,390 --> 00:07:14,740
of Italian neorealism.

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00:07:14,740 --> 00:07:19,060
He can see that the
Italian form of realism

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00:07:19,060 --> 00:07:21,890
is an extension and
elaboration and in some ways

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00:07:21,890 --> 00:07:25,260
a deepening of the
implications of poetic realism.

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00:07:25,260 --> 00:07:27,850
He's written brilliantly
about the neorealists

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00:07:27,850 --> 00:07:30,430
and especially about De Sica.

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There's one place in the
film that he particularly

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00:07:34,030 --> 00:07:37,010
focuses on one of his essays.

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00:07:37,010 --> 00:07:43,590
It's-- I have to give away a
small part of the plot in order

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00:07:43,590 --> 00:07:46,285
to explain this but it
really won't trouble you

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00:07:46,285 --> 00:07:49,982
because the plot engine gets
going so early in the film that

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00:07:49,982 --> 00:07:50,940
it's hardly a surprise.

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00:07:50,940 --> 00:07:53,190
In fact, you really know
what's going to happen almost

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00:07:53,190 --> 00:07:54,930
from the opening
dialogue in the film

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00:07:54,930 --> 00:07:57,400
where people are arguing
about who has bicycles

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00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:58,180
and who does not.

167
00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:08,120
The film is organized in a very
elegant, relatively simple way.

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00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,600
It covers essentially
three days of time.

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00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,320
The first day is the
day in which Ricci gets

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00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,920
the commission for the job.

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00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:24,192
And then goes with his wife
to get his bicycle out a hock.

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00:08:24,192 --> 00:08:25,650
And you'll see that
they have to go

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00:08:25,650 --> 00:08:30,260
through certain kinds of tricks
to find the money to do this.

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00:08:30,260 --> 00:08:33,679
And then once he has his
bicycle he goes to work.

175
00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,110
On his first day of
work, guess what happens?

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00:08:37,110 --> 00:08:39,630
Someone guess who
hasn't seen the film.

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00:08:39,630 --> 00:08:41,230
What do you think
might get stolen?

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00:08:41,230 --> 00:08:42,460
OK, right.

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00:08:42,460 --> 00:08:45,060
His bicycle is stolen on
the first day of work.

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00:08:45,060 --> 00:08:46,970
Now the fact is
you're really not

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00:08:46,970 --> 00:08:48,770
surprised when it
happens because almost

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00:08:48,770 --> 00:08:51,270
from that first scene you're
aware that bicycles are

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00:08:51,270 --> 00:08:53,220
this incredibly precious
object in the world

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00:08:53,220 --> 00:08:55,020
and yet also incredibly common.

185
00:08:55,020 --> 00:08:58,810
And that's part of why it's such
a resonant symbol in the film.

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00:08:58,810 --> 00:09:00,830
But there at the
center of the film,

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00:09:00,830 --> 00:09:05,750
the most fundamental and most
memorable parts of the film

188
00:09:05,750 --> 00:09:08,009
involve what I'll call
sort of the third segment.

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00:09:08,009 --> 00:09:09,800
I don't know that the
segments are actually

190
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,320
equal in proportion
in terms of time.

191
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,430
I think the third
is the longer one.

192
00:09:14,430 --> 00:09:16,820
But the third sequence
is the Odyssey

193
00:09:16,820 --> 00:09:20,010
or the quest in which
Ricci and his young son

194
00:09:20,010 --> 00:09:22,720
embark upon in order
to recover his bicycle.

195
00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:27,270
So he spends the whole-- I think
he gets his job, gets his bike,

196
00:09:27,270 --> 00:09:32,280
starts his job on Friday,
has as bike stolen on Friday.

197
00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:33,800
Or maybe it's on Saturday.

198
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,710
But in any case, he then
gets his bike stolen.

199
00:09:38,710 --> 00:09:41,180
He then asks for help
from various sources

200
00:09:41,180 --> 00:09:43,910
and the following day
he spends the entire day

201
00:09:43,910 --> 00:09:46,800
walking through the city of Rome
looking for the thief trying

202
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:48,710
to find his bike.

203
00:09:48,710 --> 00:09:50,640
He actually finds
the thief as you'll

204
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,880
see in the grand
climax of the film.

205
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:57,710
Although the thief turns out to
be as miserable and at least as

206
00:09:57,710 --> 00:10:01,270
much without prospects
as poor Ricci himself.

207
00:10:01,270 --> 00:10:02,690
Something very
interesting happens

208
00:10:02,690 --> 00:10:04,860
in that moment in the film
because your sympathies

209
00:10:04,860 --> 00:10:08,350
shift in some way to
the thief in an odd way.

210
00:10:08,350 --> 00:10:10,130
And you watch as
his neighborhood

211
00:10:10,130 --> 00:10:11,850
gathers around the
thief to protect him

212
00:10:11,850 --> 00:10:13,210
in certain respects.

213
00:10:13,210 --> 00:10:16,300
So the heart of the
film is this search

214
00:10:16,300 --> 00:10:19,230
that the father and the son
go on through the third day

215
00:10:19,230 --> 00:10:24,160
of the plot looking
for the bicycle.

216
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,850
As the day wears on, the father
becomes more and more nervous,

217
00:10:27,850 --> 00:10:30,530
more and more uneasy, more
and more filled with anxiety.

218
00:10:30,530 --> 00:10:34,540
The bike seems to him the
solution to all difficulties.

219
00:10:34,540 --> 00:10:37,790
And sometimes the
son slows them down

220
00:10:37,790 --> 00:10:39,840
and there are scenes in
which the father becomes

221
00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,540
annoyed or angry
with the son but I'm

222
00:10:41,540 --> 00:10:42,850
getting a bit ahead of myself.

223
00:10:42,850 --> 00:10:44,080
So I won't repeat this again.

224
00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,910
But I'll come back to these
matters in the theme of fathers

225
00:10:46,910 --> 00:10:48,610
and sons.

226
00:10:48,610 --> 00:10:51,720
In any case there's a moment in
this Odyssey where the father

227
00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,450
and son are engaged in
the search for the bicycle

228
00:10:54,450 --> 00:10:57,668
when it's just after-- I think
it's exactly at the moment when

229
00:10:57,668 --> 00:10:59,167
there's a gigantic
downpour, they're

230
00:10:59,167 --> 00:11:01,690
caught in a terrible rainstorm.

231
00:11:01,690 --> 00:11:03,890
I think in fact the
rainstorm caused this.

232
00:11:03,890 --> 00:11:06,140
The boy has to pee very badly.

233
00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:08,990
And so he interrupts
the quest to go and pee.

234
00:11:08,990 --> 00:11:11,190
I mean he has- you have
to go, you have to go.

235
00:11:11,190 --> 00:11:13,700
But the father is so upset
that the boy has slowed

236
00:11:13,700 --> 00:11:15,970
him down that the slaps him.

237
00:11:15,970 --> 00:11:18,950
And you get a sense that
it's maybe the first moment

238
00:11:18,950 --> 00:11:22,830
that this man has
ever struck his son.

239
00:11:22,830 --> 00:11:26,690
It's a tremendously
fraught moment.

240
00:11:26,690 --> 00:11:29,400
This is how Bazin
talks about it.

241
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,060
And this is why I
mention this moment now.

242
00:11:32,060 --> 00:11:36,130
It's a way of illustrating
this principle of texture

243
00:11:36,130 --> 00:11:39,570
or openness to experience--
that's part of the De Sica's

244
00:11:39,570 --> 00:11:41,140
vision of the world.

245
00:11:41,140 --> 00:11:43,070
He is a socially
conscious director

246
00:11:43,070 --> 00:11:48,450
but he's not a programmatic or
a politically preachy director.

247
00:11:48,450 --> 00:11:51,700
So Bazin focuses on that moment
I've just described to you.

248
00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:53,546
He says, the boy needs to pee.

249
00:11:53,546 --> 00:11:55,960
A downpour interrupt the chase.

250
00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,180
Then he says quote, "The
events are not necessarily

251
00:11:59,180 --> 00:12:02,470
signs of something of
the truth of which we

252
00:12:02,470 --> 00:12:04,800
are to be convinced.

253
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,950
They all carry
their own weight."

254
00:12:06,950 --> 00:12:11,530
The rain, the need to pee,
the father's anger, right?

255
00:12:11,530 --> 00:12:13,560
"They all carry
their own weight.

256
00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:15,460
Their complete uniqueness.

257
00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:19,190
They all have," Bazin
so finely, "They all

258
00:12:19,190 --> 00:12:24,290
have that ambiguity that
characterizes any fact."

259
00:12:24,290 --> 00:12:27,400
When a film is able to
capture that ambiguity that

260
00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:31,410
characterizes any fact,
it's a work of art.

261
00:12:31,410 --> 00:12:34,210
It can be programmatic
if it does that.

262
00:12:34,210 --> 00:12:36,290
And in fact the
moment I'm describing

263
00:12:36,290 --> 00:12:38,430
is really in some
sense, a version

264
00:12:38,430 --> 00:12:41,050
of what I've been calling
the neorealist counter plot.

265
00:12:41,050 --> 00:12:43,620
What constantly happens
in good neorealist films

266
00:12:43,620 --> 00:12:45,790
and what happens again and
again the Bicycle Thief

267
00:12:45,790 --> 00:12:48,620
is that the ongoing
quest for the bicycle

268
00:12:48,620 --> 00:12:53,970
is retarded or interrupted
by various kinds of accident

269
00:12:53,970 --> 00:12:57,450
disturbance, strange encounter.

270
00:12:57,450 --> 00:12:59,786
So that the search
for the bicycle

271
00:12:59,786 --> 00:13:01,410
becomes something
much larger than that

272
00:13:01,410 --> 00:13:05,950
and every particular moment in
the film has, as Bazin says,

273
00:13:05,950 --> 00:13:08,040
its own uniqueness,
its own-- you

274
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,970
don't feel that anything is in
the film to further the plot

275
00:13:10,970 --> 00:13:13,890
or to illuminate the
character or to tell you

276
00:13:13,890 --> 00:13:16,387
something about what political
attitudes you should have.

277
00:13:16,387 --> 00:13:18,470
Although by the time you're
finished with the film

278
00:13:18,470 --> 00:13:20,580
you do have a very
coherent sense

279
00:13:20,580 --> 00:13:22,170
of how the society
is breaking down,

280
00:13:22,170 --> 00:13:24,800
of how people are
sustaining themselves,

281
00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,420
about how difficult life
is in postwar Italy.

282
00:13:27,420 --> 00:13:30,650
You're aware of all
of these things.

283
00:13:30,650 --> 00:13:33,430
And aware of them with a
concreteness and the clarity

284
00:13:33,430 --> 00:13:35,760
that you wouldn't have if
you read an abstract essay.

285
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,890
You've seen them embodied in
a totally believable fiction.

286
00:13:39,890 --> 00:13:42,340
But what gives the fiction
it's authority, what gives it

287
00:13:42,340 --> 00:13:44,460
its power is precisely
that you don't

288
00:13:44,460 --> 00:13:46,004
feel you're watching a sermon.

289
00:13:46,004 --> 00:13:47,670
You don't feel you're
watching something

290
00:13:47,670 --> 00:13:51,170
in which some political moralist
is beating you over the head

291
00:13:51,170 --> 00:13:53,870
and telling you, oh you better
love this poor guy, you better.

292
00:13:53,870 --> 00:13:57,370
And in fact as the film goes on,
one of the things you discover

293
00:13:57,370 --> 00:14:01,110
is that there are nasty or
bad sides to poor Ricci.

294
00:14:01,110 --> 00:14:04,370
We understand that he's driven
by economic anxiety that's

295
00:14:04,370 --> 00:14:07,150
very deep and partly
and certainly mitigates

296
00:14:07,150 --> 00:14:08,060
his behavior.

297
00:14:08,060 --> 00:14:11,330
But he behaves crudely
and cruelly to his son,

298
00:14:11,330 --> 00:14:12,390
never intending to.

299
00:14:12,390 --> 00:14:15,150
Then of course there are moments
when he recovers and tries

300
00:14:15,150 --> 00:14:16,262
to make up with his son.

301
00:14:16,262 --> 00:14:17,720
I'll come back to
this in a moment.

302
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,240
So this passage from
Bazin also calls attention

303
00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,960
to what I think of as a
signal feature in these films

304
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:26,910
and especially in
the Bicycle Thief,

305
00:14:26,910 --> 00:14:30,380
that power that any
moment in the film

306
00:14:30,380 --> 00:14:34,250
has to express a kind
of complete uniqueness,

307
00:14:34,250 --> 00:14:38,740
the ambiguity that
characterizes reality itself.

308
00:14:38,740 --> 00:14:42,140
Well, what I'd
like to briefly do

309
00:14:42,140 --> 00:14:47,900
is give you a partial account,
a modest account of De Sica's

310
00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:50,620
own career and then
say some things

311
00:14:50,620 --> 00:14:53,980
about the Bicycle Thieves.

312
00:14:53,980 --> 00:14:56,340
De Sica was a stage actor.

313
00:14:56,340 --> 00:14:59,150
He gave regimental performances
when he served in the Army

314
00:14:59,150 --> 00:15:00,635
in the first World War.

315
00:15:00,635 --> 00:15:04,090
He became a stage hand right
after the war and an actor

316
00:15:04,090 --> 00:15:06,340
in 1923.

317
00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:10,370
He joined a theater company
in 1925, a touring company,

318
00:15:10,370 --> 00:15:12,430
and he became a
tremendous success

319
00:15:12,430 --> 00:15:14,860
in a series of performances.

320
00:15:14,860 --> 00:15:18,930
In 1927 he appeared
on stage in Rome

321
00:15:18,930 --> 00:15:22,130
in something called
[? Sabun ?] Reviews

322
00:15:22,130 --> 00:15:25,540
and I think it involved
singing and dancing.

323
00:15:25,540 --> 00:15:27,770
This was an unbelievable
success and turned him

324
00:15:27,770 --> 00:15:34,020
into a kind of a matinee idle
or at least a theater icon.

325
00:15:34,020 --> 00:15:38,790
He made his first film in that
same year in 1922 as an actor.

326
00:15:38,790 --> 00:15:42,720
And his first success
came-- he continued

327
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,120
to act in films intermittently
for the next decade

328
00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,180
but he didn't become a
recognizably serious film actor

329
00:15:48,180 --> 00:15:53,420
until his first major
success in 1932.

330
00:15:53,420 --> 00:16:00,650
Then for 10 years, he's a kind
of matinee idle Italian movies.

331
00:16:00,650 --> 00:16:03,310
He made over 40
films in the period

332
00:16:03,310 --> 00:16:07,530
as an actor between
1932 and 1942--

333
00:16:07,530 --> 00:16:10,810
a very handsome man as some of
you may know if you've seen him

334
00:16:10,810 --> 00:16:16,390
and capable of great
subtlety as an actor.

335
00:16:16,390 --> 00:16:19,290
This may help to explain why
he was such a great director

336
00:16:19,290 --> 00:16:22,980
of nonprofessional actors,
because he knew intuitively

337
00:16:22,980 --> 00:16:26,200
I think, how to bring
out the performance

338
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:30,790
from someone who was not trained
in performing, in acting.

339
00:16:30,790 --> 00:16:34,930
He begins to direct
in 1940 and makes

340
00:16:34,930 --> 00:16:38,840
a series of moments in
interesting but forgettable

341
00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:40,120
films I suppose.

342
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,110
His first really significant
film from one angle

343
00:16:43,110 --> 00:16:46,050
anyway, especially if we're
interested in the development

344
00:16:46,050 --> 00:16:52,340
of neorealism, is a film he
makes in 1942, co-screenwriter

345
00:16:52,340 --> 00:16:59,320
Cesare Zavattini, it's entitled
The Children Are Watching Us.

346
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,610
It's-- I've seen the film.

347
00:17:01,610 --> 00:17:03,740
It's not a great film.

348
00:17:03,740 --> 00:17:05,290
But it's an interesting film.

349
00:17:05,290 --> 00:17:07,819
And there are some
remarkable moments it.

350
00:17:07,819 --> 00:17:10,900
The title tells you something
about the neorealist commitment

351
00:17:10,900 --> 00:17:16,420
to focus on the under
privileged and the dis-empowered

352
00:17:16,420 --> 00:17:17,930
in society.

353
00:17:17,930 --> 00:17:21,730
Many neorealist films
focused directly on children.

354
00:17:21,730 --> 00:17:24,569
And The Children Are
Watching Us is one such film.

355
00:17:24,569 --> 00:17:28,290
And it almost announces
the idea that children

356
00:17:28,290 --> 00:17:31,510
are among the victims of society
because they are subjected

357
00:17:31,510 --> 00:17:34,310
not only to all the political
and social authorities

358
00:17:34,310 --> 00:17:36,170
of the society, but
also to the arbitrary

359
00:17:36,170 --> 00:17:41,040
authority of their own parents
and their own immediate family

360
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:41,540
environment.

361
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,720
So The Children Are
Watching Us announces

362
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,580
this interest in the
disenfranchised and especially

363
00:17:51,580 --> 00:17:53,110
in children.

364
00:17:53,110 --> 00:17:55,130
It's a film about the
breakup of a middle class

365
00:17:55,130 --> 00:17:59,360
marriage mostly told through
the eyes of children.

366
00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:01,810
So there are certain
things, certain behaviors

367
00:18:01,810 --> 00:18:04,270
on the part of the adults
are never fully explained

368
00:18:04,270 --> 00:18:06,330
because you witness
and experience

369
00:18:06,330 --> 00:18:09,290
the film through
not just the eyes

370
00:18:09,290 --> 00:18:11,280
but through the perceptions
the understanding,

371
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,367
the sensibility of children
who are somewhat confused

372
00:18:14,367 --> 00:18:15,450
about what they're seeing.

373
00:18:22,950 --> 00:18:26,300
The film that established him
as an international figure

374
00:18:26,300 --> 00:18:29,650
and established neorealism
as an international movement

375
00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:31,750
was one that to De
Sica and Zavattini

376
00:18:31,750 --> 00:18:34,480
collaborated on in 1946.

377
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:35,725
It was entitled Shoeshine.

378
00:18:38,590 --> 00:18:41,240
I sometimes have been tempted to
show Shoeshine in this course,

379
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,130
even though it's a much less
perfect film than Bicycle

380
00:18:44,130 --> 00:18:47,270
Thieves because in its own way,
it's so powerful and moving.

381
00:18:47,270 --> 00:18:51,900
One of the most interesting
things about neorealism,

382
00:18:51,900 --> 00:18:54,110
apart from the fact that
it was so short lived,

383
00:18:54,110 --> 00:18:57,140
is how relevant the
films still feel today.

384
00:18:57,140 --> 00:19:02,050
If you watched Shoeshine
or another of the films

385
00:19:02,050 --> 00:19:04,570
that I've listed here
on Umberto D which

386
00:19:04,570 --> 00:19:07,600
is about the problems
that people who have gone

387
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:12,010
into-- of the old, people
who are retired, pensioners,

388
00:19:12,010 --> 00:19:16,730
and the problems they face when
there is horrific inflation.

389
00:19:16,730 --> 00:19:19,900
De Sica dedicated the
film to his father.

390
00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:21,610
It's about an old man
who was very proud.

391
00:19:21,610 --> 00:19:23,570
He used to be-- he
dresses very well.

392
00:19:23,570 --> 00:19:25,000
But he's tremendously isolated.

393
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,020
He's terribly poor.

394
00:19:26,020 --> 00:19:28,574
He's almost reduced to begging
in the course of the film.

395
00:19:28,574 --> 00:19:30,490
There's even a moment
near the end of the film

396
00:19:30,490 --> 00:19:33,390
where he contemplates and
then pulls back from suicide.

397
00:19:37,570 --> 00:19:39,720
But watching that
film today, it feels

398
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:41,660
much less dated
than some films that

399
00:19:41,660 --> 00:19:46,470
are much later than-- were
produced 10, 15, 20, 25

400
00:19:46,470 --> 00:19:49,680
years after it because
the theme is so relevant.

401
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,160
Because we know that
in society today there

402
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,640
are so many-- in all
of a Western societies

403
00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:57,350
but especially in
the United States--

404
00:19:57,350 --> 00:20:00,152
there are pensioners who
can't make in ends meet.

405
00:20:00,152 --> 00:20:02,110
The same thing is true,
I think, in some degree

406
00:20:02,110 --> 00:20:05,190
of the role of the fate of
children in modern society.

407
00:20:05,190 --> 00:20:08,700
So Shoeshine, although it has
a very melodramatic and violent

408
00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:11,620
ending, it's an
immensely powerful film.

409
00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:15,160
Essentially it's a story about
two boys, two Roman street

410
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,180
urchins who are taking
advantage of in some sense

411
00:20:19,180 --> 00:20:23,681
by their own relatives who are
trafficking in black market

412
00:20:23,681 --> 00:20:24,180
goods.

413
00:20:24,180 --> 00:20:27,540
It's set in the same moment
at the end of the war.

414
00:20:27,540 --> 00:20:33,190
In fact, the film opens
with these urchins

415
00:20:33,190 --> 00:20:34,940
trying to make a living
as shoeshine boys.

416
00:20:34,940 --> 00:20:37,270
That's why where the
title comes from.

417
00:20:37,270 --> 00:20:39,850
And these shoeshine boys are
wandering the streets of Rome,

418
00:20:39,850 --> 00:20:43,220
going up to American soldiers
who are dominating the streets,

419
00:20:43,220 --> 00:20:47,234
it's still an occupied
city, asking soldiers

420
00:20:47,234 --> 00:20:48,275
if they want shoe shines.

421
00:20:52,210 --> 00:20:55,240
The children are
unbelievable victims.

422
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,090
They're very close friends.

423
00:20:57,090 --> 00:21:01,000
They end up buying a racehorse,
a broken down old racehorse

424
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,620
that can't race anymore and
they stable it someplace.

425
00:21:04,620 --> 00:21:11,544
They are very excited about
their possession of this horse.

426
00:21:11,544 --> 00:21:12,960
There's some early
scenes in which

427
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,219
you see them riding on the
horse with tremendous joy

428
00:21:15,219 --> 00:21:15,760
and so forth.

429
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,980
But of course this is the dawn
before the miserable night.

430
00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:22,410
Because what then
happens is the kids

431
00:21:22,410 --> 00:21:26,260
are taken advantage of by one
their-- by a close relative.

432
00:21:26,260 --> 00:21:28,670
They're involved in
black market activities.

433
00:21:28,670 --> 00:21:31,051
The adults use the
children because they

434
00:21:31,051 --> 00:21:33,050
know that children are
less vulnerable than they

435
00:21:33,050 --> 00:21:34,175
would be if they're caught.

436
00:21:34,175 --> 00:21:35,860
The children are caught.

437
00:21:35,860 --> 00:21:37,590
They're sent to reform school.

438
00:21:37,590 --> 00:21:39,810
Most of the film takes
place in the reform school.

439
00:21:39,810 --> 00:21:42,920
You see these two bright-eyed,
beautiful young children,

440
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:47,510
maybe 10 years old, who are the
fastest and closest of friends

441
00:21:47,510 --> 00:21:49,830
when they go into jail,
slowly breaking down.

442
00:21:49,830 --> 00:21:52,480
You see their humanity
being beaten out of them

443
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,630
by the conditions in the
reform-- in the children's

444
00:21:55,630 --> 00:21:57,580
prison.

445
00:21:57,580 --> 00:22:02,840
It's a terrible
disturbing film in part

446
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:08,420
because you could see that
the people who are running

447
00:22:08,420 --> 00:22:09,900
the prison actually mean well.

448
00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:14,240
They're not vicious, evil people
who want to harm children.

449
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,610
The system seems designed simply
to cause more harm than good

450
00:22:18,610 --> 00:22:22,300
and to destroy the
vitality and optimism.

451
00:22:22,300 --> 00:22:24,510
And when I say the film
ends melodramatically,

452
00:22:24,510 --> 00:22:28,370
one child strikes out at
his erstwhile best friend

453
00:22:28,370 --> 00:22:30,420
and knocks him down
a bank and he dies.

454
00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:34,190
So he in effect accidentally
murders a person who

455
00:22:34,190 --> 00:22:35,592
had been his dearest friend.

456
00:22:35,592 --> 00:22:37,050
I think it's a
failure in the film.

457
00:22:37,050 --> 00:22:39,383
I think that you didn't need
the murder for the meanings

458
00:22:39,383 --> 00:22:40,860
of the film to be available.

459
00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:42,990
I think that De Sica
learned something from that.

460
00:22:42,990 --> 00:22:45,277
When you watch the ending
of the Bicycle Thief,

461
00:22:45,277 --> 00:22:47,110
one of the things I
hope you'll ask yourself

462
00:22:47,110 --> 00:22:50,020
is why is it so
apparently undramatic?

463
00:22:50,020 --> 00:22:52,280
And why does that
undramatic ending

464
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:57,040
in the end seems so profound,
so moving, so meaningful?

465
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,240
It's as if De Sica sort
of learned his lesson.

466
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,440
It's as if he drove his
point home too heavily

467
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:03,930
at the end of Shoeshine.

468
00:23:03,930 --> 00:23:06,820
He realized that to have
a truly organic text that

469
00:23:06,820 --> 00:23:10,710
did what Bazin wants text
to do, reflect the unique

470
00:23:10,710 --> 00:23:14,790
the unique ambiguity
of every experience.

471
00:23:14,790 --> 00:23:17,360
The ending of the
Bicycle Thieves

472
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,060
does that much more effectively
as I hope you'll watch

473
00:23:20,060 --> 00:23:24,080
for when you you're
watching the film.

474
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,400
Shoeshine made a
tremendous impact

475
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,520
and it won the first
of four Academy Awards

476
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,720
that De Sica won
as best director.

477
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,090
This was for the best foreign
film of the year in 1946

478
00:23:37,090 --> 00:23:39,550
and it put new
realism on the map.

479
00:23:42,250 --> 00:23:51,280
Then two years later
Zavattini and De Sica

480
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,850
followed with what I suppose we
could call their masterpiece,

481
00:23:53,850 --> 00:23:55,160
Bicycle Thieves.

482
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,010
I want to say that this is not
a complete-- remotely complete

483
00:23:58,010 --> 00:23:59,080
list of De Sica's films.

484
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:00,780
I've just listed
some highlights here

485
00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:03,830
because I wanted to give
you a sense of his work.

486
00:24:03,830 --> 00:24:07,030
I mentioned Umberto D already,
the last neorealist film

487
00:24:07,030 --> 00:24:10,710
according to many people,
and a very moving one

488
00:24:10,710 --> 00:24:12,780
about an old pensioner.

489
00:24:12,780 --> 00:24:15,210
The film Two Women
stars Sophia Loren,

490
00:24:15,210 --> 00:24:18,680
one of the great sort of
pulchritudinous Italian movie

491
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,870
stars of the '50s and '60s.

492
00:24:21,870 --> 00:24:23,450
It got a lot of attention.

493
00:24:23,450 --> 00:24:26,540
There were many other
interesting films that he made.

494
00:24:26,540 --> 00:24:29,390
But one of his great triumphs
was the very last we made.

495
00:24:29,390 --> 00:24:31,020
That's what I want
to mention it.

496
00:24:31,020 --> 00:24:38,940
Zavattini returned to do
an uncredited coscreenplay

497
00:24:38,940 --> 00:24:42,550
work on Finzi-Continis and
you can feel Zavattini's hand

498
00:24:42,550 --> 00:24:44,310
in many moments in the film.

499
00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:47,030
It's an adaptation of a novel.

500
00:24:47,030 --> 00:24:51,050
As some of you may know,
it's really a Holocaust film.

501
00:24:51,050 --> 00:24:53,240
It's about the buildup
to the Holocaust.

502
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,050
The Finzi-Continis are
very wealthy Italian Jews.

503
00:24:57,050 --> 00:25:01,890
The story is about a poor
young Jewish scholar who is,

504
00:25:01,890 --> 00:25:03,620
because of the
anti-Jewish laws that

505
00:25:03,620 --> 00:25:06,990
are developing in
fascist Italy, is barred

506
00:25:06,990 --> 00:25:09,220
from using the public library.

507
00:25:09,220 --> 00:25:10,860
He's a very gifted
young scholar.

508
00:25:10,860 --> 00:25:12,270
He's in his early '20s.

509
00:25:12,270 --> 00:25:16,680
So he finds out that this very
wealthy aristocratic family,

510
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,470
also Jewish, the Finzi-Continis
have a magnificent library.

511
00:25:20,470 --> 00:25:22,660
The Finzi-Continis open
their library to him

512
00:25:22,660 --> 00:25:25,670
since he's barred from going
into the public library.

513
00:25:25,670 --> 00:25:28,405
Of course what happens is,
you might guess this too,

514
00:25:28,405 --> 00:25:31,030
it's a wonderful novel although
the film is even more beautiful

515
00:25:31,030 --> 00:25:32,010
I think.

516
00:25:32,010 --> 00:25:34,730
He falls in love with the
Finzi-Continis' daughter.

517
00:25:34,730 --> 00:25:36,970
Right, so it's a class issue.

518
00:25:36,970 --> 00:25:38,730
The poor boy, rich girl.

519
00:25:43,570 --> 00:25:47,430
So the foreground of the film
is this cross class romance.

520
00:25:47,430 --> 00:25:49,630
But in the background
of the film

521
00:25:49,630 --> 00:25:53,722
it's something like cabaret but
not as dramatic, not as overt.

522
00:25:53,722 --> 00:25:55,930
Because what's going on in
the background of the film

523
00:25:55,930 --> 00:25:58,040
is the growth of fascism.

524
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,750
The end of the film ends with
many of the characters we've

525
00:26:02,750 --> 00:26:05,190
gotten to know very well, both
young and old, all of them

526
00:26:05,190 --> 00:26:08,110
Jews, some very
aristocratic and some

527
00:26:08,110 --> 00:26:10,180
at the bottom of the
social hierarchy,

528
00:26:10,180 --> 00:26:12,770
all being herded together
being ready to be shipped off

529
00:26:12,770 --> 00:26:13,830
to the camps.

530
00:26:13,830 --> 00:26:16,430
You don't actually go-- the
final scenes of the film

531
00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:19,960
have them in the railroad
station being prepared

532
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:24,570
for their final journey.

533
00:26:24,570 --> 00:26:31,350
The film is also full of comedy,
just as some of the passages

534
00:26:31,350 --> 00:26:34,560
that I showed you in clips
from this afternoon mix comedy

535
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,280
with socially serious themes.

536
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,790
This is even truer of The
Garden of the Finzi-Continis

537
00:26:40,790 --> 00:26:43,090
One of the reasons I like
the film so much is that it's

538
00:26:43,090 --> 00:26:48,270
a return to the energies and the
moral passion that had marked

539
00:26:48,270 --> 00:26:49,990
De Sica's earlier career.

540
00:26:49,990 --> 00:26:51,540
And I think that
my own feeling is

541
00:26:51,540 --> 00:26:53,900
the The Garden of
the Finzi-Continis

542
00:26:53,900 --> 00:26:56,370
is one of the great
European films.

543
00:26:56,370 --> 00:26:58,990
It certainly would be
on my list of the best

544
00:26:58,990 --> 00:27:07,270
15 or 20 European
films of the sound era.

545
00:27:07,270 --> 00:27:11,190
I think many of you would find
it very instructive and moving.

546
00:27:11,190 --> 00:27:12,950
But I think especially
so after you

547
00:27:12,950 --> 00:27:16,040
saw some of the truly neorealist
films, the early neorealist

548
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,170
films.

549
00:27:17,170 --> 00:27:19,440
One can't really call The
Garden of the Finzi-Continis

550
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:23,190
a neorealist film although it
has many elements in common

551
00:27:23,190 --> 00:27:25,560
with those earlier texts.

552
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,380
So De Sica was a remarkable
man, a significant actor,

553
00:27:29,380 --> 00:27:31,430
a great director.

554
00:27:31,430 --> 00:27:35,270
He directed 25
films in his career,

555
00:27:35,270 --> 00:27:38,960
won four Oscars for
best foreign film.

556
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,780
He acted in more than
150 films, mostly

557
00:27:42,780 --> 00:27:46,690
light, comic social
matters kind of roles.

558
00:27:46,690 --> 00:27:50,030
But there's one exception
I perhaps should mention.

559
00:27:50,030 --> 00:27:52,510
Playing in a film
for his friend,

560
00:27:52,510 --> 00:27:57,040
Roberto Rossellini in 1959,
Rossellini's greatest film,

561
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:03,660
a film called General Della
Rovere, De Sica plays the lead

562
00:28:03,660 --> 00:28:07,830
and it's probably his most
memorable performance.

563
00:28:07,830 --> 00:28:10,350
It's a very, very
subtle and good film

564
00:28:10,350 --> 00:28:12,560
about political
ambiguities and conflicts

565
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,450
of loyalty, human frailty,
and human inadequacies

566
00:28:17,450 --> 00:28:21,210
in a way that's characteristic
of the best neorealist work.

567
00:28:21,210 --> 00:28:24,320
So those are all films
I recommend or urge you

568
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:30,970
to consider watching
in your leisure time.

569
00:28:30,970 --> 00:28:34,595
Let me say a few words
now about Bicycle Thieves.

570
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,670
I've already implied
or actually said

571
00:28:39,670 --> 00:28:42,660
a part of what I want to say so
what I think I can be briefer

572
00:28:42,660 --> 00:28:44,340
than I had originally planned.

573
00:28:44,340 --> 00:28:47,129
Let me remind you again
about the structure.

574
00:28:47,129 --> 00:28:49,170
I mentioned to you that
the structure of the film

575
00:28:49,170 --> 00:28:52,720
is elegantly simple, that
the amount of time the passes

576
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,490
is very compressed.

577
00:28:54,490 --> 00:29:00,370
And that's helpful because
the time compression

578
00:29:00,370 --> 00:29:03,580
makes you aware of the
urgency of the quest

579
00:29:03,580 --> 00:29:06,750
that the father and the son
are engaged in when they're

580
00:29:06,750 --> 00:29:08,160
searching for the bicycle.

581
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:15,600
So one way-- and as the story
unfolds, a number of things

582
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:17,880
begin to happen.

583
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,620
The quest for the bicycle
becomes a kind of Odyssey

584
00:29:20,620 --> 00:29:22,090
in which several things happen.

585
00:29:22,090 --> 00:29:25,890
One is the film takes you
on an exploration of Rome.

586
00:29:25,890 --> 00:29:27,930
It's like one of the
great city films.

587
00:29:27,930 --> 00:29:29,010
It visits the city.

588
00:29:29,010 --> 00:29:30,250
It explores the city.

589
00:29:30,250 --> 00:29:32,710
You see different--
it's not just that you

590
00:29:32,710 --> 00:29:35,870
see police stations and
religious institutions

591
00:29:35,870 --> 00:29:38,080
and the catacombs
underneath the city.

592
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,910
Where the unions
meet, and where Ricci

593
00:29:40,910 --> 00:29:44,380
first goes to get help from
Union members who promised him

594
00:29:44,380 --> 00:29:46,169
that they'll find his
bike, very easily,

595
00:29:46,169 --> 00:29:48,085
and they give him a plan
and he's very excited

596
00:29:48,085 --> 00:29:49,580
and then the next
morning when they

597
00:29:49,580 --> 00:29:53,230
follow the instructions of the
union, the boss doesn't help.

598
00:29:53,230 --> 00:29:56,220
So the unions are breaking down
as well as the church, as well

599
00:29:56,220 --> 00:29:59,110
as certain kinds of welfare
organizations in the state

600
00:29:59,110 --> 00:30:01,812
and so on.

601
00:30:01,812 --> 00:30:04,270
So one thing the film becomes
then is a kind of travelogue,

602
00:30:04,270 --> 00:30:05,840
a kind of exploration
of the city,

603
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,790
the city's geography as well as
the city's make up in some way.

604
00:30:10,790 --> 00:30:12,620
You go into different
neighborhoods

605
00:30:12,620 --> 00:30:14,460
and you hear-- I
think Italians can

606
00:30:14,460 --> 00:30:16,780
pick up the different
neighborhoods

607
00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:18,440
speech patterns in
the film, at least

608
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,910
I've been told this
made by native Italians.

609
00:30:21,910 --> 00:30:24,060
So it's a kind of
travelogue in one sense.

610
00:30:24,060 --> 00:30:26,490
It explores this place.

611
00:30:26,490 --> 00:30:31,330
And part of the
exploration of course

612
00:30:31,330 --> 00:30:38,970
involves certain
ancillary or other themes

613
00:30:38,970 --> 00:30:45,280
that are organically linked
to the story of going

614
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:47,240
through the city
looking for the bicycle.

615
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,630
One of course is
what we might call

616
00:30:51,630 --> 00:30:53,010
the social themes of the film.

617
00:30:53,010 --> 00:30:56,760
Because as the
protagonists make their way

618
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,540
through the city searching for
the bicycle what you encounter

619
00:31:00,540 --> 00:31:02,890
are little vignettes
that tell you something

620
00:31:02,890 --> 00:31:07,930
about the social hierarchies of
the society, about the efficacy

621
00:31:07,930 --> 00:31:10,790
or in efficacy of
its institutions.

622
00:31:10,790 --> 00:31:12,570
I won't go into
great detail here.

623
00:31:12,570 --> 00:31:14,360
I hope you'll draw
your own conclusions

624
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:18,760
and name some of the
specific examples that

625
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,470
reinforce this general idea.

626
00:31:20,470 --> 00:31:23,560
But I do want to
mention at least

627
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:29,920
one moment in this Odyssey.

628
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:34,500
One of the most dramatic
and disturbingly comic

629
00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:38,920
moments in the film occurs
when Ricci and his son

630
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:40,530
actually think they've
seen the thief.

631
00:31:40,530 --> 00:31:42,820
They think they recognize
him and they follow him.

632
00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:45,540
And they get to
essentially a mission

633
00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:50,590
where relatively well-off,
self-satisfied Christians

634
00:31:50,590 --> 00:31:54,950
are serving meals to the
indigent and the poor, right?

635
00:31:54,950 --> 00:31:58,120
Ricci gets into this institution
not because he sort of wants

636
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:00,510
the meal or because he
needs the religious uplift

637
00:32:00,510 --> 00:32:02,930
but because he's
chasing his thief.

638
00:32:02,930 --> 00:32:05,650
And he finds once he's in
there that he can't get.

639
00:32:05,650 --> 00:32:09,130
It turns out that in
this institution that

640
00:32:09,130 --> 00:32:14,070
not only do the poor have
to pay for their meal

641
00:32:14,070 --> 00:32:18,440
by agreeing to all kinds of
religious behaviors, prayers,

642
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:19,730
and other kinds of things.

643
00:32:19,730 --> 00:32:21,240
But they're also locked
into the building.

644
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:22,500
They're not allowed
eat, they're not

645
00:32:22,500 --> 00:32:24,840
allowed to leave at least
until they finish eating.

646
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,490
Maybe they're not
allowed to leave

647
00:32:26,490 --> 00:32:28,573
until they can be checked
to make sure they're not

648
00:32:28,573 --> 00:32:29,690
stealing the soup bowls.

649
00:32:29,690 --> 00:32:33,057
But in any case, it's a
very interesting moment

650
00:32:33,057 --> 00:32:34,890
because you can see
that even the people who

651
00:32:34,890 --> 00:32:36,630
would intend to
do well in society

652
00:32:36,630 --> 00:32:38,870
often do more harm than good.

653
00:32:38,870 --> 00:32:40,830
And of course the
implication is that

654
00:32:40,830 --> 00:32:42,500
the traditional
religious institutions

655
00:32:42,500 --> 00:32:46,050
and traditional
religious arrangements

656
00:32:46,050 --> 00:32:48,665
are not sufficient
to take care of

657
00:32:48,665 --> 00:32:54,070
or adequately to respect the
difficulties of the poor.

658
00:32:54,070 --> 00:32:55,830
That's just one such moment.

659
00:32:55,830 --> 00:32:58,785
There are number of others.

660
00:32:58,785 --> 00:33:00,160
In fact there is
one other moment

661
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,720
I should mention as
a kind of contrast.

662
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,760
I've said that we see
many instances in which we

663
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,040
understand that the larger
institutions of society

664
00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:12,230
like the police or the religious
system or the union system

665
00:33:12,230 --> 00:33:14,614
are breaking down or not
really helping people.

666
00:33:14,614 --> 00:33:16,280
But I will but I've
also said that there

667
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,510
are some other sort
of unofficial, and

668
00:33:18,510 --> 00:33:22,090
non-institutionalized sources
of solidarity and comfort

669
00:33:22,090 --> 00:33:24,000
that emerge in the
course of the film

670
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,060
and I hope you'll watch for
them and think about what

671
00:33:28,060 --> 00:33:29,160
their significance is.

672
00:33:31,980 --> 00:33:39,340
But there's one moment which
complicates this argument

673
00:33:39,340 --> 00:33:43,590
because we can see the social
institutions of society not

674
00:33:43,590 --> 00:33:46,570
actually functioning
effectively but at least showing

675
00:33:46,570 --> 00:33:47,840
some compassion.

676
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,070
It's an astonishingly
vivid, meaningful moment

677
00:33:51,070 --> 00:33:53,346
in the film, another one
of these moments so full

678
00:33:53,346 --> 00:33:57,080
of multiplicity that the
meanings are so deeply embedded

679
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,120
in what you dramatically see
that sometimes you don't even

680
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,140
step back to generalize on the
meaning of what you've seen.

681
00:34:03,140 --> 00:34:05,660
This is a scene very
early in the film

682
00:34:05,660 --> 00:34:09,250
where Ricci actually goes
to retrieve his bicycle.

683
00:34:09,250 --> 00:34:14,750
His wife has figured out a way--
basically what she figures out

684
00:34:14,750 --> 00:34:16,199
is they sell her dowry.

685
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:18,949
She has a couple of
fancy silk sheets.

686
00:34:18,949 --> 00:34:22,350
They take them to the hockshop,
and they pawn the sheets

687
00:34:22,350 --> 00:34:25,070
in order to get enough money
to get the bicycle out of hock.

688
00:34:25,070 --> 00:34:26,611
It means they're
going to be sleeping

689
00:34:26,611 --> 00:34:30,690
on mattresses and but so what,
this is more important right?

690
00:34:30,690 --> 00:34:35,170
You see Ricci and his wife go to
the pawn shop which is clearly

691
00:34:35,170 --> 00:34:35,900
run by the state.

692
00:34:35,900 --> 00:34:38,250
Is not like a
private pawn-- it's

693
00:34:38,250 --> 00:34:40,840
obviously a city
institution of some kind.

694
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:45,050
And they bring the linen up to
the guy and he looks at them

695
00:34:45,050 --> 00:34:47,136
and he says, OK, I'll
give you this much money.

696
00:34:47,136 --> 00:34:48,969
And they need a little
bit more because they

697
00:34:48,969 --> 00:34:52,600
need to get the bike out of hock
so they ask him for more money.

698
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,159
And he looks at it, he says,
oh, it's not really worth it

699
00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:55,810
but, OK.

700
00:34:55,810 --> 00:34:58,370
And it's an act of
generosity on his part

701
00:34:58,370 --> 00:34:59,745
because he didn't have to do it.

702
00:34:59,745 --> 00:35:02,612
He gives them just enough money
for this stuff so that they

703
00:35:02,612 --> 00:35:03,820
can get his bike out of hock.

704
00:35:03,820 --> 00:35:07,800
And then, completely silent, you
see him pick this material up,

705
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,450
this pawned bedding,
this pawned linen,

706
00:35:11,450 --> 00:35:13,810
and he turns around-- I think
he does-- he may give it

707
00:35:13,810 --> 00:35:14,685
to another character.

708
00:35:14,685 --> 00:35:16,682
I haven't looked at
this scene a year or two

709
00:35:16,682 --> 00:35:19,140
so I don't remember the exact--
you'll recognize the scene.

710
00:35:19,140 --> 00:35:21,431
I think it's the same man
who does it or he may give it

711
00:35:21,431 --> 00:35:22,260
to someone else.

712
00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:24,845
The material-- the three or
four sheets that are involved

713
00:35:24,845 --> 00:35:25,720
are taken by someone.

714
00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:27,910
He walks to the back
of a room, and he

715
00:35:27,910 --> 00:35:29,140
begins to climb a ladder.

716
00:35:29,140 --> 00:35:34,470
As he climbs you realize that
what he's climbing up is-- he's

717
00:35:34,470 --> 00:35:37,720
climbing a ladder
which is leaning

718
00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:41,520
against a series of shelves
that seem to go on endlessly.

719
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,280
They seem to be in an
auditorium the size

720
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,250
of the city of Pittsburgh.

721
00:35:46,250 --> 00:35:50,300
And they go up endlessly
high and every single shelf,

722
00:35:50,300 --> 00:35:52,050
every single inch of
space on the shelf

723
00:35:52,050 --> 00:35:55,750
is filled with bedding as
if the entire city of Rome

724
00:35:55,750 --> 00:35:59,950
has pawned its bedding,
as if everybody in Rome

725
00:35:59,950 --> 00:36:01,494
is sleeping on mattresses.

726
00:36:01,494 --> 00:36:03,410
Now the film never makes
a comment about this.

727
00:36:03,410 --> 00:36:05,750
No one in the film
says anything about it.

728
00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:08,600
But it's an unbelievably
resonant and rich moment.

729
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,970
And it's also-- it
does further the sort

730
00:36:11,970 --> 00:36:13,660
of social themes of the film.

731
00:36:13,660 --> 00:36:15,930
But it occurs in a moment
in which you will also

732
00:36:15,930 --> 00:36:20,280
see the pawn broker showing
a moment of compassion

733
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:21,280
and generosity.

734
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,030
And if you did not
show that generosity

735
00:36:24,030 --> 00:36:26,080
they wouldn't have been
able to get the bicycle.

736
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:28,860
So it's a complicated moment.

737
00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:30,910
But if all this linen
has been pawned,

738
00:36:30,910 --> 00:36:33,400
there's some question
about whether or not

739
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,380
the city services are doing
much good for anybody.

740
00:36:36,380 --> 00:36:38,180
The city's in obvious
trouble if nobody

741
00:36:38,180 --> 00:36:40,930
has any bed linen any longer.

742
00:36:40,930 --> 00:36:44,130
The implication is this is
an unbelievably impoverished

743
00:36:44,130 --> 00:36:46,410
and damaged environment.

744
00:36:46,410 --> 00:36:50,670
But it's done in such a quiet
way there's even something

745
00:36:50,670 --> 00:36:53,090
almost comic about
the sense you have

746
00:36:53,090 --> 00:36:55,199
of the endless number
of these things.

747
00:36:55,199 --> 00:36:57,740
Even the idea that you have to
distinguish one from the other

748
00:36:57,740 --> 00:37:00,080
seems from our vantage
point a bit silly,

749
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:01,760
even though each one
has a ticket on it,

750
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:03,940
each one belongs to
an individual family.

751
00:37:03,940 --> 00:37:05,060
So watch for that moment.

752
00:37:05,060 --> 00:37:11,220
It has some of that ambiguity
that Bazin talks about.

753
00:37:11,220 --> 00:37:14,260
So the structure of the
film is organic in the sense

754
00:37:14,260 --> 00:37:16,150
that nothing that
happens in the film

755
00:37:16,150 --> 00:37:18,249
doesn't seem to
arise naturally out

756
00:37:18,249 --> 00:37:19,540
of the needs of the characters.

757
00:37:19,540 --> 00:37:21,760
We have to find our new bike.

758
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,950
And in the course of their
travels other things happen.

759
00:37:24,950 --> 00:37:26,702
The boy has to pee,
they get hungry.

760
00:37:26,702 --> 00:37:27,410
They have to eat.

761
00:37:27,410 --> 00:37:30,030
Or sometimes it rains, they
have to get out of the rain.

762
00:37:30,030 --> 00:37:30,530
Right?

763
00:37:30,530 --> 00:37:33,310
And that becomes part
of the ongoing sort

764
00:37:33,310 --> 00:37:37,040
of organic development
of the story.

765
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,690
You never once feel,
I think, in this film

766
00:37:39,690 --> 00:37:43,360
that any event has been
imposed from the outside.

767
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,900
Every event seems
to arise naturally

768
00:37:45,900 --> 00:37:49,720
out of the circumstances and
nature of the characters.

769
00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:51,440
And that's why I
call it organic.

770
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:56,890
It's a deeply organic way of
thinking about the material.

771
00:37:56,890 --> 00:37:58,880
But it's organic in
another way too course

772
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,349
because it's deeply coherent.

773
00:38:00,349 --> 00:38:02,640
When you finally finished
the film, when you step back,

774
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,280
you say, OK, yes the
film slowed down here.

775
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,350
And yes, the film seemed
to generate what Thorburn

776
00:38:08,350 --> 00:38:10,530
calls a counter plot here.

777
00:38:10,530 --> 00:38:12,330
Nonetheless, taken
as a whole, there's

778
00:38:12,330 --> 00:38:15,720
a profound moral and
thematic coherence

779
00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:19,300
in this organically fluid movie.

780
00:38:19,300 --> 00:38:22,070
So the structure of the
film is part of its essence.

781
00:38:22,070 --> 00:38:24,090
And although I haven't
put this on the outline

782
00:38:24,090 --> 00:38:26,660
because we've talked about
this so often already,

783
00:38:26,660 --> 00:38:30,380
pay attention to the Renoir-ish
type camera behavior.

784
00:38:30,380 --> 00:38:33,380
The film's visual style
is like Jean Renoir's.

785
00:38:33,380 --> 00:38:36,240
There's a kind of
elegant restlessness

786
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:42,140
to the camera that's very much a
part of what the film achieves.

787
00:38:42,140 --> 00:38:44,810
So in talking about
the social themes

788
00:38:44,810 --> 00:38:46,270
all I meant to
call your attention

789
00:38:46,270 --> 00:38:49,360
to was the extent to which
in a variety of ways,

790
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,210
the film calls attention
to the miserably endangered

791
00:38:53,210 --> 00:38:56,390
circumstances of ordinary
people in this broken down, war

792
00:38:56,390 --> 00:38:59,180
torn environment.

793
00:38:59,180 --> 00:39:03,760
It also looks to those, or seems
to find without even looking,

794
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,640
to dramatize or reveal
those sources of support

795
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:12,600
and sustenance that get
us through bad times.

796
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,350
As you're watching the
ending of the film,

797
00:39:14,350 --> 00:39:15,850
ask yourself what
these things mean.

798
00:39:19,590 --> 00:39:21,390
I won't actually
tell you whether he

799
00:39:21,390 --> 00:39:25,420
recovers the bike or not, let
you see that for yourself.

800
00:39:25,420 --> 00:39:27,960
But ask yourself, whether
or not he recovers the bike,

801
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,650
would it have made
any difference?

802
00:39:30,650 --> 00:39:33,620
Does it matter given what
the film is finally saying

803
00:39:33,620 --> 00:39:36,760
to us in those final images?

804
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:38,067
Well, character.

805
00:39:38,067 --> 00:39:40,025
This is one of the great
films about character,

806
00:39:40,025 --> 00:39:42,600
I think, especially
about the relation

807
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:43,850
between the father of the son.

808
00:39:43,850 --> 00:39:45,520
They're at the very
center of the film.

809
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,830
I've already said in a way that
this Odyssey that they go on

810
00:39:48,830 --> 00:39:50,130
is a travelogue.

811
00:39:50,130 --> 00:39:52,060
It teaches us about
the geography,

812
00:39:52,060 --> 00:39:56,790
social circumstances, social
arrangements, and class system

813
00:39:56,790 --> 00:39:59,570
and institutional
systems of Rome.

814
00:39:59,570 --> 00:40:00,610
It does that.

815
00:40:00,610 --> 00:40:04,090
But it's also an Odyssey in
which the father of the son

816
00:40:04,090 --> 00:40:07,060
get to know each other in
a deeper and in many ways,

817
00:40:07,060 --> 00:40:09,150
much more disturbing
way than has ever

818
00:40:09,150 --> 00:40:10,630
happened to them before.

819
00:40:10,630 --> 00:40:14,090
The most poignant and terrible
thing about this film in fact,

820
00:40:14,090 --> 00:40:16,640
is that the Odyssey
I've been describing

821
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,780
through Rome with
his son, by Ricci,

822
00:40:19,780 --> 00:40:24,370
is also an initiation story,
a story about growing up.

823
00:40:24,370 --> 00:40:26,580
But what happens to
Ricci's son in this film

824
00:40:26,580 --> 00:40:30,850
doesn't happen to most young
boys until they're much older.

825
00:40:30,850 --> 00:40:33,610
And it happens gradually,
not all at once.

826
00:40:33,610 --> 00:40:38,000
But what Ricci's son discovers
in the course of this day

827
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,030
are his father's flaws.

828
00:40:40,030 --> 00:40:42,730
He discovers things
about his father

829
00:40:42,730 --> 00:40:47,240
that no boy really wants
to know even if he's 67

830
00:40:47,240 --> 00:40:50,830
years old like your professor.

831
00:40:50,830 --> 00:40:56,400
And he discovers these things
about his father in the most

832
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:57,980
stressful circumstances.

833
00:40:57,980 --> 00:40:59,810
His father's violent
toward him, his father

834
00:40:59,810 --> 00:41:01,047
is indifferent toward him.

835
00:41:01,047 --> 00:41:03,130
Then there are moments
when after his father feels

836
00:41:03,130 --> 00:41:05,657
terrible anxiety and
grief over the way

837
00:41:05,657 --> 00:41:07,740
he's treated him where his
father tries to make up

838
00:41:07,740 --> 00:41:11,650
with him and you can see the boy
not wanting to let them do it.

839
00:41:11,650 --> 00:41:13,065
It's unbelievably rich.

840
00:41:13,065 --> 00:41:15,190
And I don't think anyone
who pays attention to this

841
00:41:15,190 --> 00:41:18,400
will fail to recognize the
interactions between the father

842
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:22,000
and son as unbelievably
true, marvelously

843
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,365
accurate to the way in
which loving parents

844
00:41:24,365 --> 00:41:26,490
and loving children often
interact with each other.

845
00:41:26,490 --> 00:41:28,781
Because they have many moments
where they're really not

846
00:41:28,781 --> 00:41:30,530
happy with each other at all.

847
00:41:30,530 --> 00:41:32,370
What the boy discovers
about his father

848
00:41:32,370 --> 00:41:34,200
are some things
that no child ever

849
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,410
wants to know about his father.

850
00:41:36,410 --> 00:41:39,240
Not just that he's flawed, but
he's deeply, deeply flawed,

851
00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:43,110
that he's capable of
really terrible behavior.

852
00:41:43,110 --> 00:41:46,570
And the boy is-- something
happens in this Odyssey.

853
00:41:46,570 --> 00:41:48,600
It's one of the subtlest
things about the film.

854
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:53,200
The basic relations between
fathers and sons are reversed.

855
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,770
We find that the son,
this little child,

856
00:41:56,770 --> 00:42:00,760
is twice in the film in
the position of having

857
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,740
to rescue his father.

858
00:42:02,740 --> 00:42:04,690
I'm simplify certain
things because I don't

859
00:42:04,690 --> 00:42:05,860
want to give away the plot.

860
00:42:05,860 --> 00:42:08,190
But you'll see how this
works out in the film.

861
00:42:08,190 --> 00:42:10,920
I mean there are two moments
in the film in which Ricci

862
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,830
fate would be far more dire
than it is because of his son's

863
00:42:14,830 --> 00:42:15,940
presence.

864
00:42:15,940 --> 00:42:18,850
His son, in a sense,
is his Savior.

865
00:42:18,850 --> 00:42:20,810
The fathers are supposed
to protect their sons

866
00:42:20,810 --> 00:42:22,350
not the reverse.

867
00:42:22,350 --> 00:42:24,060
Part of the meaning
of this adventure

868
00:42:24,060 --> 00:42:27,610
is that Ricci has been reduced
to such a miserable level that

869
00:42:27,610 --> 00:42:32,380
even has to rely on his son's
help in order to get by.

870
00:42:32,380 --> 00:42:36,530
Both of them, the father and
son experience this reversal.

871
00:42:36,530 --> 00:42:40,230
So it's a psychologically
traumatic and deeply moving

872
00:42:40,230 --> 00:42:41,110
experience.

873
00:42:41,110 --> 00:42:42,380
Although don't misunderstand.

874
00:42:42,380 --> 00:42:44,420
I'm not suggesting
that the child doesn't

875
00:42:44,420 --> 00:42:48,340
come to terms-- he does come
to terms with what he learns.

876
00:42:48,340 --> 00:42:49,620
I think is quite remarkable.

877
00:42:49,620 --> 00:42:51,650
I mean I would have
had trouble with what

878
00:42:51,650 --> 00:42:53,900
that boy comes to
terms with as an adult

879
00:42:53,900 --> 00:42:55,120
but he does it as a child.

880
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:59,010
But I think of course it's
also believable as you'll see.

881
00:42:59,010 --> 00:43:03,060
So the film is
profound and serious

882
00:43:03,060 --> 00:43:06,380
about the social circumstances
of postwar Italy.

883
00:43:06,380 --> 00:43:09,200
Is profound and serious
about the indifference

884
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:11,270
of certain kinds of
institutional arrangements

885
00:43:11,270 --> 00:43:15,470
to the real miseries
of human experience.

886
00:43:15,470 --> 00:43:18,820
And it is a powerful and deep
exploration of human character

887
00:43:18,820 --> 00:43:21,830
and especially,
centrally, the relation

888
00:43:21,830 --> 00:43:23,350
between Ricci and his son.

889
00:43:23,350 --> 00:43:25,440
The relation between
fathers and sons--

890
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:29,050
becomes a kind of one of the
great parables of the relations

891
00:43:29,050 --> 00:43:31,290
between adults and children.

892
00:43:31,290 --> 00:43:36,040
It's one of the great father
and son stories of all time.

893
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,470
Let me conclude by
saying a couple of words

894
00:43:38,470 --> 00:43:39,979
about the title.

895
00:43:39,979 --> 00:43:42,520
I mean there's much more in the
film I wish I can talk about.

896
00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:44,490
But by this time in
the course if you

897
00:43:44,490 --> 00:43:46,960
can't get this stuff yourself,
I haven't done my job.

898
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,440
I hope all of you are watching
films much more attentively

899
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,212
and carefully than
you had before.

900
00:43:52,212 --> 00:43:53,670
I hope that your
enjoyment has been

901
00:43:53,670 --> 00:43:55,470
increased rather than
decreased by what

902
00:43:55,470 --> 00:43:58,500
you've learned in this course.

903
00:43:58,500 --> 00:43:59,970
Let the Bicycle Thief be a test.

904
00:43:59,970 --> 00:44:02,520
Because in many ways it's
not kind of film most of you

905
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:04,210
guys would go out to watch.

906
00:44:04,210 --> 00:44:06,880
First of all it's
in black and white.

907
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,845
Second it's more
than 50 years old.

908
00:44:10,845 --> 00:44:12,220
But I think you'll
I think you'll

909
00:44:12,220 --> 00:44:17,116
recognize that it hasn't
aged, that the film is

910
00:44:17,116 --> 00:44:19,490
as compelling now as it was
when it was-- maybe even more

911
00:44:19,490 --> 00:44:20,989
compelling now than
when it was made

912
00:44:20,989 --> 00:44:23,680
because some of the political
turmoil has disappeared.

913
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:28,570
There's no longer the
taint of fascism hanging

914
00:44:28,570 --> 00:44:32,550
over Italian
artistic productions

915
00:44:32,550 --> 00:44:34,050
as they were at
the end of the war.

916
00:44:34,050 --> 00:44:37,210
There's a historical
sense of the importance

917
00:44:37,210 --> 00:44:38,320
of this movement.

918
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:42,380
So maybe we can look at these
neorealist films with a more

919
00:44:42,380 --> 00:44:45,650
objective eye than the
original audiences could.

920
00:44:45,650 --> 00:44:48,540
In any case the title
is an interesting one.

921
00:44:48,540 --> 00:44:50,830
When it was first
translated into English,

922
00:44:50,830 --> 00:44:52,330
and in fact it's
still widely known,

923
00:44:52,330 --> 00:44:55,800
you might have noticed a
slips of the tongue on my part

924
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,240
where I started to call
it the Bicycle Thief.

925
00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:01,342
And the reason is, it's
still often called that.

926
00:45:01,342 --> 00:45:03,550
When it was originally
brought into the United States

927
00:45:03,550 --> 00:45:05,620
and translated both
in Great Britain

928
00:45:05,620 --> 00:45:09,130
and in the United States, it
was called The Bicycle Thief.

929
00:45:09,130 --> 00:45:10,760
Now the Italian
is in the plural.

930
00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:13,820
It's Ladri di Bicilette.

931
00:45:13,820 --> 00:45:16,940
Thieves of the bicycle would
be the literal translation.

932
00:45:16,940 --> 00:45:20,050
Right now the question
is why the plural?

933
00:45:20,050 --> 00:45:24,770
I think you could imagine the
answer just from that opening

934
00:45:24,770 --> 00:45:26,520
sequence that I showed
you this afternoon.

935
00:45:31,230 --> 00:45:33,120
Why would it be plural?

936
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:34,392
Why would the title be plural?

937
00:45:34,392 --> 00:45:36,600
One of the reasons is from
the very opening sequence,

938
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,640
we see that everybody--
that the bicycle

939
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,370
is a very ambiguous and
complicated symbol in the film.

940
00:45:43,370 --> 00:45:44,760
Symbol is a bad
word because it's

941
00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,340
such an actuality that
it seems pretentious

942
00:45:47,340 --> 00:45:48,500
to call it a symbol.

943
00:45:48,500 --> 00:45:50,300
You see hundreds
of maybe thousands

944
00:45:50,300 --> 00:45:51,920
of bicycles in the film.

945
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:54,500
That's part of what makes
Ricci's loss of the bicycle so

946
00:45:54,500 --> 00:45:55,400
poignant.

947
00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,840
You have the sense as he's
walking around the city,

948
00:45:57,840 --> 00:45:59,860
oh my God, everybody
has a bicycle.

949
00:45:59,860 --> 00:46:02,180
There are 10 million
bicycles in this city.

950
00:46:02,180 --> 00:46:05,400
Poor Ricci can't
find one, can find--

951
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:10,110
there's something horrific about
the idea that an item so common

952
00:46:10,110 --> 00:46:14,250
could still for Ricci you be
so precious, as to constitute

953
00:46:14,250 --> 00:46:17,020
his livelihood or threaten
against his livelihood

954
00:46:17,020 --> 00:46:19,190
if he can't find the bicycle.

955
00:46:19,190 --> 00:46:21,400
You can guess now based
on what I've already

956
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,090
said one reason for why
the title is plural.

957
00:46:24,090 --> 00:46:24,667
Why?

958
00:46:24,667 --> 00:46:26,750
As Ricci's walking around
looking for his bicycle,

959
00:46:26,750 --> 00:46:28,490
walking through a
city full of hundreds

960
00:46:28,490 --> 00:46:31,960
and thousands of bicycles,
what might he think?

961
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:36,080
What might you think if you
needed the bicycle desperately?

962
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,700
Why not pinch one?

963
00:46:38,700 --> 00:46:39,730
Why not thieve?

964
00:46:39,730 --> 00:46:41,745
So one of the reasons
that the title is plural

965
00:46:41,745 --> 00:46:43,245
is that Ricci is
one of the thieves.

966
00:46:46,536 --> 00:46:48,410
I'm only suggesting that
he's a thief by sort

967
00:46:48,410 --> 00:46:49,710
of psychological inclination.

968
00:46:49,710 --> 00:46:51,590
He looks lovingly--
as you'll see,

969
00:46:51,590 --> 00:46:53,340
the plot makes this
even more explicit.

970
00:46:53,340 --> 00:46:55,500
I don't want to
give away the plot.

971
00:46:55,500 --> 00:46:56,060
I will.

972
00:46:56,060 --> 00:46:58,940
He actually does in a
certain sense become a thief.

973
00:46:58,940 --> 00:47:01,140
But long before he
becomes a literal thief

974
00:47:01,140 --> 00:47:04,010
and actually puts his hands
on someone else's bicycle,

975
00:47:04,010 --> 00:47:06,980
you and I might even think
some people in the audience

976
00:47:06,980 --> 00:47:09,270
may get the idea
before Ricci does.

977
00:47:09,270 --> 00:47:13,000
When you're watching this
guy, so terrible, looking

978
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,650
every place for his bicycle,
he's surrounded by bicycles,

979
00:47:15,650 --> 00:47:18,860
sees inundated by bicycles.

980
00:47:18,860 --> 00:47:22,800
After he recovers the bicycle,
before he goes to work,

981
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:26,520
on his wife asks him to take
into a special location.

982
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:28,020
She wants to thank someone.

983
00:47:28,020 --> 00:47:31,490
It turns out, that he had--
and they get on the bike,

984
00:47:31,490 --> 00:47:33,800
she rides behind him and
he rides over on the bike.

985
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:36,590
And he waits outside this
place while his wife goes up.

986
00:47:36,590 --> 00:47:38,350
His wife is taking a long time.

987
00:47:38,350 --> 00:47:41,200
So he leans his bike
against the wall.

988
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:42,450
He starts to go up the stairs.

989
00:47:42,450 --> 00:47:44,910
He looks, and sees his bike is
vulnerable so he walks down,

990
00:47:44,910 --> 00:47:48,230
he finds a kid, gives the kid,
I think he gives the kid a coin,

991
00:47:48,230 --> 00:47:50,292
and tells the kid
to guard the bike.

992
00:47:50,292 --> 00:47:52,250
And then he starts walking
up the stairs again.

993
00:47:52,250 --> 00:47:53,541
This is very early in the film.

994
00:47:53,541 --> 00:47:55,220
And think how clever this is.

995
00:47:55,220 --> 00:47:58,620
You're aware of how vulnerable
the bike is from that moment.

996
00:47:58,620 --> 00:48:01,600
This is a day before
it's stolen, right?

997
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,390
You're aware of how precious
is and as he ascends

998
00:48:04,390 --> 00:48:06,390
the stairs you
actually become afraid

999
00:48:06,390 --> 00:48:09,970
that his bicycle
might be stolen.

1000
00:48:09,970 --> 00:48:12,460
So one of the reasons
the title is ambiguous

1001
00:48:12,460 --> 00:48:15,250
is I think in the end, the
title encompasses not just

1002
00:48:15,250 --> 00:48:17,030
the thief who
steals Ricci's bike

1003
00:48:17,030 --> 00:48:20,130
and not just Ricci himself
who contemplates becoming

1004
00:48:20,130 --> 00:48:24,120
a thief in his desperation, but
also the audience which becomes

1005
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:27,900
complicit Ricci's impulse
to criminality because we

1006
00:48:27,900 --> 00:48:30,070
are ourselves think God,
steal a goddamn bike.

1007
00:48:30,070 --> 00:48:31,900
Take the bike.

1008
00:48:31,900 --> 00:48:32,970
Stop worrying about it.

1009
00:48:32,970 --> 00:48:33,520
Get it.

1010
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:34,030
Get away.

1011
00:48:34,030 --> 00:48:35,280
There's a bike you could take.

1012
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:37,020
And I think anyone
watching the film

1013
00:48:37,020 --> 00:48:39,420
has this feeling after
a relatively short time

1014
00:48:39,420 --> 00:48:41,770
so that we are bicycle
thieves as well.

1015
00:48:41,770 --> 00:48:44,450
So part of the subtlety
of the title-- and you'll

1016
00:48:44,450 --> 00:48:48,150
see as the film works itself
out, I've already implied this.

1017
00:48:48,150 --> 00:48:50,510
When they finally catch up
the thief, alleged thief,

1018
00:48:50,510 --> 00:48:52,040
the guy they think
is the thief, he

1019
00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:54,790
turns out to be an even
more miserable specimen

1020
00:48:54,790 --> 00:48:55,600
than poor Ricci.

1021
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:56,790
He's an epileptic.

1022
00:48:56,790 --> 00:48:58,210
He's out of work.

1023
00:48:58,210 --> 00:49:00,050
He has to be protected
by this community.

1024
00:49:00,050 --> 00:49:01,960
His mother's very
protective of him.

1025
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,310
There's some modest minor
possibility that he's acting,

1026
00:49:05,310 --> 00:49:11,410
that he's faking
his mental problems

1027
00:49:11,410 --> 00:49:13,100
and maybe faking everything.

1028
00:49:13,100 --> 00:49:15,690
But I don't think so.

1029
00:49:15,690 --> 00:49:18,950
You could judge yourself
whether what is in any case,

1030
00:49:18,950 --> 00:49:23,190
any case surely true, is that
the neighborhood coalesces

1031
00:49:23,190 --> 00:49:25,026
around him because
Ricci and his son

1032
00:49:25,026 --> 00:49:26,940
are strangers and
are attacking someone

1033
00:49:26,940 --> 00:49:27,940
from their neighborhood.

1034
00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:35,760
So when this happens, one
of the things you'll feel

1035
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:40,120
is not just that
the thief Ricci was

1036
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,800
going after deserves
some sympathy too.

1037
00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:48,250
You begin to feel some sense
that his difficulties are-- not

1038
00:49:48,250 --> 00:49:51,700
that you excuse his thievery--
but you understand it

1039
00:49:51,700 --> 00:49:54,177
in a deep and
generous way I think.

1040
00:49:54,177 --> 00:49:56,260
That complicates your sense
of who the thieves are

1041
00:49:56,260 --> 00:49:57,343
and what thieves are like.

1042
00:49:57,343 --> 00:49:59,270
And then you've come
to recognize that Ricci

1043
00:49:59,270 --> 00:50:00,770
is a potential thief.

1044
00:50:00,770 --> 00:50:02,070
And you care about Ricci.

1045
00:50:02,070 --> 00:50:05,435
You see what a loving father
he is, how desperate he

1046
00:50:05,435 --> 00:50:07,600
is to take care of his family.

1047
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:09,280
So you sympathize with him.

1048
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,000
And then, you realize
if you've been thinking

1049
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:13,500
about it, that of
course you've been

1050
00:50:13,500 --> 00:50:15,980
covering bicycles yourself.

1051
00:50:15,980 --> 00:50:18,550
So the audience
and the real thief

1052
00:50:18,550 --> 00:50:21,460
and Ricci the would-be thief
are all implicated together

1053
00:50:21,460 --> 00:50:24,550
as if what he's saying is
that our common humanity is

1054
00:50:24,550 --> 00:50:26,720
what bicycle thieves suggest.

1055
00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:28,680
And that's one of the
reasons that the title

1056
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,380
needs to be plural
because the film is not

1057
00:50:31,380 --> 00:50:33,460
about a single bicycle thief.

1058
00:50:33,460 --> 00:50:37,350
It's about the bicycle
thief in all of us.

1059
00:50:37,350 --> 00:50:39,520
Enjoy the film.