When Antonio's bicycle is stolen, he loses more than a bike. The brand name of the bicycle "Fides" (Faith in Latin) suggest it has symbolic value. What is the significance of that symbol? What does Antonio lose? Are there other symbols in this film?
What Antonio loses when he loses his bike is his livelihood. The bicycle is established in that regard right from the top of the film. When the clerk is handing out jobs, he makes it clear that no bike means no job. When it’s stated that plainly, any separation between the idea of a bicycle and an income fades away. That’s why the whole setup exists, from Antonio being poor to the bike being at the pawnshop to Bruno working at the gas station; no one would go to see a movie about the wealthiest man in Italy losing his bicycle. The object has to have a deep significance to Antonio for the viewer to care. I think that’s the reason behind having the symbolism surrounding the bike: it serves as a way to elicit empathy from the audience. It gets us involved in the picture. What we learn from that involvement is how important a job was to a man of Antonio’s low status in postwar Italy. I’m taking that idea from the intensity and single-mindedness with which Antonio pursues the stolen bicycle; only a truly desperate person would go to such great lengths for a bike, eventually risking even his son’s admiration by attempting to steal another one when his own doesn’t turn up. For that matter, Bruno’s tears at the end of the film are symbolic as well. They represent his loss of respect for his father. They show that what really matters to others isn’t a man’s income but the dignity with which he conducts his affairs.
When Antonio loses his bike he loses his opportunity to give him and his family a life much better than they had. He doesn’t have much to start the movie and the family is in dire straits. When he is offered the job he even has to sell the sheets off his bed to purchase the bike, but the opportunity it gives him is enormous. It is the difference between working tirelessly to scrap for a small meal every day and living pretty comfortably and not having to worry about paying for the essentials. The scene in the restaurant displays this difference as Bruno watches the other boy in the rich family stuff his face with whatever he pleases while Bruno eats one small mozzarella sandwich. The faith sign on the bike literally translates to faith for Antonio as it acts as a savior for his family’s welfare. When it is stolen the faith is completely lost and it dooms him and his family back to the life they had always lived. The final scene when he attempts to steal the bike is also symbolic of this vanishing faith. Antonio is a good, honest man and we see this throughout the movie, but he is completely broken down. He realizes after he is unable to frame the thief that he is helpless and he has nowhere else to turn. He steals the bike because he feels that he has no choice. When that fails and the movie ends we see him and Bruno crying as they walk down the street. This very sad ending leaves us with no hope for Antonio and his family as he is out options and doomed to poverty after his one chance was unfairly stolen from him.
Although a bicycle may be a replaceable object for all of us today, to Antonio his bicycle represented his manhood and ability to provide for his family. Antonio retrieves his bicycle after selling it at a pawn shop in order to complete a new job that has been handed to him. On his first day, the bike gets stolen and with it goes his livelihood and his pride. The brand name of his stolen bicycle means faith in Latin. Now there are many different interpretations on what this means to the film but in my opinion, the name means Antonio's loss of faith in mankind and people doing the right thing. This is exemplified during his quest to retrieve his bike when he runs into the accomplice to the thief and he refuses to give Antonio any information on the thief's whereabouts. Antonio losses faith in the common man to help someone out that is in need. Even he turns to thievery late in the movie when he attempts to steal another bicycle he finds on the street. Antonio looses all of his moral values as he is seen shooing his son away so he can try to steal and put someone else, through the pain he is suffering. Antonio not only looses a mode of transportation when he looses his bike, he also looses his sanity, manhood, and faith in society to do the right thing.
In Bicycle Thieves, Antonio’s bicycle represents much more than way to get to and from work. The bike represented one of his last chances to find a steady job and make enough money to support his family. Before the war, during relative financial prosperity, Antonio owned a bike – something that many would consider a sign of being well off. However, as the war progressed and his financial situation worsened, he and his wife decided to pawn his bike as a means to scrap a little bit more money. But when the opportunity arose, Antonio and his wife decided to pawn their sheets in order to get the bike back, which would subsequently lead to an increased income and a better living situation for his family. I believe that when Antonio’s bike was stolen, his faith went away with it. He lost his faith in the goodness of people and thus, his society. When Antonio heard of the job opening, he envisioned a brighter future and with that came hope. Originally, the name of his bike “fides” restored his faith in himself and the fact that he could provide for his family. However, when his bike was stolen, his faith in himself vanished just as quickly. He has lost all hope. At the end of the movie, as Antonio and his son are at the plaza next the soccer stadium looking at the hundreds of bikes, he performs a desperate measure. He has come to the conclusion that he has lost his bike forever, but is so vulnerable and helpless, that he resorts to stealing a bike of his own. I believe that this was his attempt to hide the fact that, by what appeared to be his own accords, had amounted to very little in life as he struggled desperately to provide for his family, and restore the hope and faith in himself that had vanished with his bike.
The director of Bicycle Thieves deliberately gives Antonio a “Fides” bicycle so that the audience can recognize the when Antonio loses his bike, he loses much more than just a faster means of transportation. Fides translates from Latin into the word faith and shows that Antonio loses his faith when his bike is stolen. This is a fitting name for his bike because as Antonio scours Rome to find his bike, he slowly loses his faith in the world around him. This is first seen when Antonio goes to the police station to report the theft and they completely ignore the crime because the station is too busy dealing with members of the communist party (who are portrayed as the only helpful people). Here Antonio loses his faith in the police and anyone else who is supposed to be protecting the people. The second case in which Antonio loses his faith is when he spots a man who resembles the thief talking to an old man, and after the thief runs away, the old man ignores all of Antonio’s questions and causes a commotion in the streets, the church and anywhere else they talk. Here he loses his faith in the common citizen helping one another because they are too busy with their own affairs. Finally, Antonio loses his faith in finding his bike and continuing his job when he runs into the thief once again and Antonio is mobbed by friends and neighbors of the accused thief. In this scene, the police are not able to help and Antonio is almost attacked several times. This is where Antonio loses the rest of the faith he has finding his bike and living a decent life and in turns leads to him becoming a thief as well.
In the beginning of the film, Antonio is offered a job, on one condition, that he has a “bicicleta”. During his first day at work, he appears confident and excited that he has a job in the tough post-war Italian economy. But suddenly, the bicycle is literally taken out from beneath him. The bicycle, ironically named Fides, really begins his journey through Rome with his son, Bruno. But, he did not just lose his bike; he lost his Fides, or his faith. He lost faith that he could provide for his family now that he does not have a bike; he does not have a job. His wife and children will have lost faith in them too, now that they will not be able to eat or have an apartment to live in. Antonio has also lost faith in the Roman society as whole. It seems like whenever he needs help, like when his bike was stolen in the street, no one was there to help him. Then, whenever he tries to get away with something, like when Antonio tries to steal the bike, everyone goes after him and works as a community to catch the thief. Throughout all this time, Bruno is present with his father and he can see the sadness grow in Bruno’s eyes as he continues to lose all faith in society.
In the movies the bicycle thieves the fact that Antonio lost his bicycle presented many big issues for him. The name of his bike “Fides” means faith in latin. when this was stolen from him it represented him losing his faith. However, even after the bike was stolen he, at least for a little while, maintained his faith and searched for the bike. After a while of searching, with no luck in finding it, he finally lost all faith. This can be seen when he steals someone else’s bike and is at his absolute lowest point in the movie. It is rather symbolic that the director chose to end the movie at this point because everything in his life was simply a wreck. The choice to end the movie here symbolizes that Antonio’s life was over and he had made a decision that he couldn’t recover from and therefore this is the true point where he lost his faith.
The central theme of Bicycle thieves is about faith. It is Antonio's fait that he can find his bicycle in such a large city. It is also about Bruno's faith in his father. Antonio has faith that he can find his bicycle in a massive city with tens of thousands of inhabitants. He looks everywhere. Antonio places his faith in the members of the communist club to help him find his bicycle in the market place, but he fails. Then he sees the old man working with someone who appears to be the thief he is looking for. He then laces his faith in the old man to cooperate with him. The old man appears to be cooperative after intense bothering and pleading, but then Antonio looses him. When the old man disappears, Antonio starts to show his weariness and begins to lose faith in the world. Later, he visits a clairvoyant and hopes that she will tell him how to find his bicycle. Instead, she gives him generic advise. By the end of the movie, he has truly lost faith. Not only does he never find his bicycle, but he gives up on the prospect of encountering it. He steals another bicycle because he does not believe that there is anything else he can do. If he does not have his bicycle, then his family does not eat. He turns to theft because he is hopeles, but he still fails. The movie showing a crushed man who has lost all his faith, including his bicycle. In the end, the movie suggests that we all want to have faith in the unknown and believe that the future will be better. But faith alone cannot fix reality.
Since "fides" means faith, and Antonio looses his "fides" bike, than he looses faith. But in what? First and foremost, throughout the film we see Antonio feel less and less confident that he will find his bike. He is loosing FAITH that he will find the bike.
It could also mean that he is loosing faith in Italian society. In the opening scene we see dosens of unemployed unable to secure a job. He is one of the lucky few who can get a job, but then looses his bike and in turn his job. He is loosing FAITH in his ability to find work.
The bike's name could also represent the loss of faith that Italy has in itself. Italy after WWII was notoriously corrupt, poor, and generally destroyed. This overwhelming melancholy can be self sustaining and even grow exponentially. The loss of "Fides" could signify the loss that Italy as a whole felt.
Another meaning for the bike could be a religious one. Italy is one of the most, if not the most, Catholic countries in the world. Religion is a fundamental part of society. Antonio may be loosing faith in his own religion. In the church scene, when he is chasing the old man around, Antonio is being extremely disrespectful to the churchgoers, and even Christ himself. One shot shows Antonio running past the statue of Christ and not kneel, but the old man and Antonio's son both do kneel in respect.
Another symbol that further demonstrates the loss of religious faith is the meal that Antonio shares with his son. It seems as if it is the last supper between the two. The Last Supper is of course an iconic Christian image. Antonio's last supper however seems less religious. It is more of an "Oh well, what have we got to loose?" or a "the last straw" sort of act than it is a goodbye supper, as is the Christian one.
What Antonio loses when he loses his bike is his livelihood. The bicycle is established in that regard right from the top of the film. When the clerk is handing out jobs, he makes it clear that no bike means no job. When it’s stated that plainly, any separation between the idea of a bicycle and an income fades away. That’s why the whole setup exists, from Antonio being poor to the bike being at the pawnshop to Bruno working at the gas station; no one would go to see a movie about the wealthiest man in Italy losing his bicycle. The object has to have a deep significance to Antonio for the viewer to care. I think that’s the reason behind having the symbolism surrounding the bike: it serves as a way to elicit empathy from the audience. It gets us involved in the picture. What we learn from that involvement is how important a job was to a man of Antonio’s low status in postwar Italy. I’m taking that idea from the intensity and single-mindedness with which Antonio pursues the stolen bicycle; only a truly desperate person would go to such great lengths for a bike, eventually risking even his son’s admiration by attempting to steal another one when his own doesn’t turn up. For that matter, Bruno’s tears at the end of the film are symbolic as well. They represent his loss of respect for his father. They show that what really matters to others isn’t a man’s income but the dignity with which he conducts his affairs.
ReplyDeleteWhen Antonio loses his bike he loses his opportunity to give him and his family a life much better than they had. He doesn’t have much to start the movie and the family is in dire straits. When he is offered the job he even has to sell the sheets off his bed to purchase the bike, but the opportunity it gives him is enormous. It is the difference between working tirelessly to scrap for a small meal every day and living pretty comfortably and not having to worry about paying for the essentials. The scene in the restaurant displays this difference as Bruno watches the other boy in the rich family stuff his face with whatever he pleases while Bruno eats one small mozzarella sandwich. The faith sign on the bike literally translates to faith for Antonio as it acts as a savior for his family’s welfare. When it is stolen the faith is completely lost and it dooms him and his family back to the life they had always lived. The final scene when he attempts to steal the bike is also symbolic of this vanishing faith. Antonio is a good, honest man and we see this throughout the movie, but he is completely broken down. He realizes after he is unable to frame the thief that he is helpless and he has nowhere else to turn. He steals the bike because he feels that he has no choice. When that fails and the movie ends we see him and Bruno crying as they walk down the street. This very sad ending leaves us with no hope for Antonio and his family as he is out options and doomed to poverty after his one chance was unfairly stolen from him.
ReplyDeleteAlthough a bicycle may be a replaceable object for all of us today, to Antonio his bicycle represented his manhood and ability to provide for his family. Antonio retrieves his bicycle after selling it at a pawn shop in order to complete a new job that has been handed to him. On his first day, the bike gets stolen and with it goes his livelihood and his pride. The brand name of his stolen bicycle means faith in Latin. Now there are many different interpretations on what this means to the film but in my opinion, the name means Antonio's loss of faith in mankind and people doing the right thing. This is exemplified during his quest to retrieve his bike when he runs into the accomplice to the thief and he refuses to give Antonio any information on the thief's whereabouts. Antonio losses faith in the common man to help someone out that is in need. Even he turns to thievery late in the movie when he attempts to steal another bicycle he finds on the street. Antonio looses all of his moral values as he is seen shooing his son away so he can try to steal and put someone else, through the pain he is suffering. Antonio not only looses a mode of transportation when he looses his bike, he also looses his sanity, manhood, and faith in society to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteIn Bicycle Thieves, Antonio’s bicycle represents much more than way to get to and from work. The bike represented one of his last chances to find a steady job and make enough money to support his family. Before the war, during relative financial prosperity, Antonio owned a bike – something that many would consider a sign of being well off. However, as the war progressed and his financial situation worsened, he and his wife decided to pawn his bike as a means to scrap a little bit more money. But when the opportunity arose, Antonio and his wife decided to pawn their sheets in order to get the bike back, which would subsequently lead to an increased income and a better living situation for his family. I believe that when Antonio’s bike was stolen, his faith went away with it. He lost his faith in the goodness of people and thus, his society. When Antonio heard of the job opening, he envisioned a brighter future and with that came hope. Originally, the name of his bike “fides” restored his faith in himself and the fact that he could provide for his family. However, when his bike was stolen, his faith in himself vanished just as quickly. He has lost all hope. At the end of the movie, as Antonio and his son are at the plaza next the soccer stadium looking at the hundreds of bikes, he performs a desperate measure. He has come to the conclusion that he has lost his bike forever, but is so vulnerable and helpless, that he resorts to stealing a bike of his own. I believe that this was his attempt to hide the fact that, by what appeared to be his own accords, had amounted to very little in life as he struggled desperately to provide for his family, and restore the hope and faith in himself that had vanished with his bike.
ReplyDeleteThe director of Bicycle Thieves deliberately gives Antonio a “Fides” bicycle so that the audience can recognize the when Antonio loses his bike, he loses much more than just a faster means of transportation. Fides translates from Latin into the word faith and shows that Antonio loses his faith when his bike is stolen. This is a fitting name for his bike because as Antonio scours Rome to find his bike, he slowly loses his faith in the world around him. This is first seen when Antonio goes to the police station to report the theft and they completely ignore the crime because the station is too busy dealing with members of the communist party (who are portrayed as the only helpful people). Here Antonio loses his faith in the police and anyone else who is supposed to be protecting the people. The second case in which Antonio loses his faith is when he spots a man who resembles the thief talking to an old man, and after the thief runs away, the old man ignores all of Antonio’s questions and causes a commotion in the streets, the church and anywhere else they talk. Here he loses his faith in the common citizen helping one another because they are too busy with their own affairs. Finally, Antonio loses his faith in finding his bike and continuing his job when he runs into the thief once again and Antonio is mobbed by friends and neighbors of the accused thief. In this scene, the police are not able to help and Antonio is almost attacked several times. This is where Antonio loses the rest of the faith he has finding his bike and living a decent life and in turns leads to him becoming a thief as well.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the film, Antonio is offered a job, on one condition, that he has a “bicicleta”. During his first day at work, he appears confident and excited that he has a job in the tough post-war Italian economy. But suddenly, the bicycle is literally taken out from beneath him. The bicycle, ironically named Fides, really begins his journey through Rome with his son, Bruno. But, he did not just lose his bike; he lost his Fides, or his faith. He lost faith that he could provide for his family now that he does not have a bike; he does not have a job. His wife and children will have lost faith in them too, now that they will not be able to eat or have an apartment to live in. Antonio has also lost faith in the Roman society as whole. It seems like whenever he needs help, like when his bike was stolen in the street, no one was there to help him. Then, whenever he tries to get away with something, like when Antonio tries to steal the bike, everyone goes after him and works as a community to catch the thief. Throughout all this time, Bruno is present with his father and he can see the sadness grow in Bruno’s eyes as he continues to lose all faith in society.
ReplyDeleteIn the movies the bicycle thieves the fact that Antonio lost his bicycle presented many big issues for him. The name of his bike “Fides” means faith in latin. when this was stolen from him it represented him losing his faith. However, even after the bike was stolen he, at least for a little while, maintained his faith and searched for the bike. After a while of searching, with no luck in finding it, he finally lost all faith. This can be seen when he steals someone else’s bike and is at his absolute lowest point in the movie. It is rather symbolic that the director chose to end the movie at this point because everything in his life was simply a wreck. The choice to end the movie here symbolizes that Antonio’s life was over and he had made a decision that he couldn’t recover from and therefore this is the true point where he lost his faith.
ReplyDeleteThe central theme of Bicycle thieves is about faith. It is Antonio's fait that he can find his bicycle in such a large city. It is also about Bruno's faith in his father. Antonio has faith that he can find his bicycle in a massive city with tens of thousands of inhabitants. He looks everywhere. Antonio places his faith in the members of the communist club to help him find his bicycle in the market place, but he fails. Then he sees the old man working with someone who appears to be the thief he is looking for. He then laces his faith in the old man to cooperate with him. The old man appears to be cooperative after intense bothering and pleading, but then Antonio looses him. When the old man disappears, Antonio starts to show his weariness and begins to lose faith in the world. Later, he visits a clairvoyant and hopes that she will tell him how to find his bicycle. Instead, she gives him generic advise. By the end of the movie, he has truly lost faith. Not only does he never find his bicycle, but he gives up on the prospect of encountering it. He steals another bicycle because he does not believe that there is anything else he can do. If he does not have his bicycle, then his family does not eat. He turns to theft because he is hopeles, but he still fails. The movie showing a crushed man who has lost all his faith, including his bicycle. In the end, the movie suggests that we all want to have faith in the unknown and believe that the future will be better. But faith alone cannot fix reality.
ReplyDeleteSince "fides" means faith, and Antonio looses his "fides" bike, than he looses faith. But in what? First and foremost, throughout the film we see Antonio feel less and less confident that he will find his bike. He is loosing FAITH that he will find the bike.
ReplyDeleteIt could also mean that he is loosing faith in Italian society. In the opening scene we see dosens of unemployed unable to secure a job. He is one of the lucky few who can get a job, but then looses his bike and in turn his job. He is loosing FAITH in his ability to find work.
The bike's name could also represent the loss of faith that Italy has in itself. Italy after WWII was notoriously corrupt, poor, and generally destroyed. This overwhelming melancholy can be self sustaining and even grow exponentially. The loss of "Fides" could signify the loss that Italy as a whole felt.
Another meaning for the bike could be a religious one. Italy is one of the most, if not the most, Catholic countries in the world. Religion is a fundamental part of society. Antonio may be loosing faith in his own religion. In the church scene, when he is chasing the old man around, Antonio is being extremely disrespectful to the churchgoers, and even Christ himself. One shot shows Antonio running past the statue of Christ and not kneel, but the old man and Antonio's son both do kneel in respect.
Another symbol that further demonstrates the loss of religious faith is the meal that Antonio shares with his son. It seems as if it is the last supper between the two. The Last Supper is of course an iconic Christian image. Antonio's last supper however seems less religious. It is more of an "Oh well, what have we got to loose?" or a "the last straw" sort of act than it is a goodbye supper, as is the Christian one.