At the end of his essay, Ben Lawton states that "The future, [Bicycle Thief] tells us and shows us, is ambiguous, open-ended, and perhaps vaguely threatening, but, without a doubt, interesting" (22). I have to disagree, at least in terms of the future presented by the film.
The film follows Ricci's moral journey. Circumstances have forced him to attempt the same crime that has ruined his chance to support his family. The final shots of the film show the son comforting the father, who has hit rock bottom. The almost-preferable outcome of prison is denied, and so Ricci will have to return home with no job and no money. In a previous scene, a medium tells Ricci that if he fails to find the bicycle that morning, he will never find it. It's another example of the metaphorical/poetic that comes into conflict with the documentary approach of neorealism; after all, Ricci earlier criticized his wife for paying for the psychic's advice.
With this in mind, the end of the movie seems to depict Ricci walking towards his doom. While the specifics of his fate are ambiguous, the audience knows there is little hope of escaping poverty for his family. Despite all of his efforts to regain the bicycle, he has failed. The music and editing of this scene reinforces this. The sweeping orchestral scoring combined with the closeups on Ricci and Bruno's faces create an overwhelming sense of tragedy, not ambiguity.
The 400 Blows seems to more closely follow Lawton's quote. The tone of the movie throughout is more neutral and less overt than Bicycle Thief, and uses spare and unassuming music. The famous freeze-frame ending does not strike me as an ending at all; Antoine is young and his fate is uncertain. I'm left with many more questions than Bicycle Thief provided.
None of this is to say that I prefer one film to the other, though. They just have very different functions and purposes, I think.
I definitely think it is very interesting how Ricci swallows his pride (for lack of better words) and sees the medium. Something that shows that he is getting desperate. And something that also foreshadows what is going to happen since he wasn't able to find it successfully the first time he tried. I find your comparison to The 400 Blows very interesting, I think its great that you tied the essay's quote together with a previous week.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the film is a "moral journey". I feel like the technical aspects of the film are meant to subtly lead us into the question: what would we do in the same situation?
ReplyDeleteI like the mention of how Ricci hits rock bottom at the end of the film because it really does feel like that. A feeling of tension is at an all time high when he attempts to steal a bike, then after he fails that feeling of tension plummets to an almost depression. Not only does Ricci hit rock bottom but the viewer hits an emotional low at the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of the endings of these two films. I feel as though the viewer is left like Antonio with no sense of hope or expectations for the possibility of redemption. I think that Lawton is correct in calling into question the political efficacy of these films that leave viewers with so little possibilities except sorrow.
ReplyDeleteBilly- I think that when you say they are walking to their doom it really captures the feeling the end gave me as well. I also think that it is interesting that as they are walking the character of the crowd begins to grow very large behind and in front of them. They seem to be just another story of failure that is possible in this society.
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