Bicycle Thieves Non Professional Actors
Vittorio de sica s 1948 film bicycle thieves is also representative of the genre with non professional actors and a story that details the hardships of working class life after the war.
Bicycle thieves non professional actors. That very idea is what makes hiring nonprofessional actors for the roles of neorealist films so. The actors that played antonia and the son bruno never played anything besides antonio and bruno. Vittorio de sica s 1948 film the bicycle thief exemplifies the italian neorealism style and form in several ways. Both of whom are pretty good though all players are amateurs as filmmaker de sica and screenwriter zavattini decided not to use professional actors.
Bicycle thieves 1948 movie clip open ricci airing. The main character antonio ricci played by lamberto maggiorani was himself a factory worker wikipedia the bicycle thief. Stylistically bicycle thieves serves as a quintessential neorealist film for its on location shooting in rome use of natural light episodic and organic storytelling and casting of non professional actors in principal roles. In true italian neo realist style de sica shot on the streets of rome and used non professional actors often just finding people off the streets.
One of them is that there are no professional actors. And his son bruno played by enzo staiola who was merely 9 years old. In the period from 1944 1948 many neorealist filmmakers drifted away from pure neorealism. Acting alongside acting greats such as fredric march dana andrews and teresa wright russell plays homer parish a sailor who loses both of his hands in battle and struggles to re adjust to.
There are other characteristics of bicycle thieves that bazin believes makes it a true example of neorealism. They embodied antonio and bruno. You could make the case that they did not play anybody. Opening sequence and news of a job for antonio lamberto maggiorani from vittorio de sica s neo realist landmark cast entirely with non professional actors bicycle thieves 1948 from a novel by luigi bartolini.
Two main actors are frankly well lamberto maggiorani as the ill fated father and enzo staiola as the agreeable son with sweet laughter. There s the malnourished ricci played by lamberto maggiorani who was just a factory worker at the time. They are antonio and bruno. Directors as diverse as martin scorsese danny boyle akira kurosawa and elia kazan have cited the apu trilogy as an influence on their own work which means some of the credit ultimately goes to.
The story of the bicycle thieves is comparable with almost every single working class italian of the time life was extremely difficult and filled with poverty oppression injustice and desperation.