Vittorio DeSica's THE BICYCLE THIEF

After seeing this film for the first time, I sat stunned. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Is this the best film I've ever seen?"

The story is simple -- an out of work Italian laborer in post-WWII Rome gets a job -- but only if he has a bicycle to transport him to and from work. His wife hocks their bedclothes to get his bike back from the local pawnshop, but on his first  day on the job the bicycle is stolen. Thus starts a desperate city-wide quest to find the bike, this working man's key to feeding his family.

Words that come to mind:

• pathos
• guilt
• desperation
• fear
• love
• hope

Perhaps the message that comes through most strongly with this film is, "This is the way it is. Bad things happen. Good people suffer. We all make compromises. That's life in the big city. Now what were you complaining about?"