Am I a wuss because I had to turn off 'The Bicycle Thief'?

Cafe Society
1

Last night I started watching Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief for the first time. I had to stop watching when Antonio’s bike was about to be stolen. I couldn’t bear to see how horrible it would be for him, his family, his life, and his future to lose his only source of income in a shattered post-war Italy.

Am I a wuss? Should I hunker down and watch it? Does everything turn out ok? Or is it one of those ‘Life sucks and then you die’ movies?

2

Yes you are a wuss, no go back and watch that movie! It’ll put hair on your chest!
Ok, so maybe not. I don’t want to say anything about what happens later but do yourself the favor of finishing the movie. I can say definitively that I don’t think it says “life sucks and then you die”, but it won’t necessarily leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling afterward. (actually if you have a warm fuzzy feeling after the movie is over I would check into a mental institution, there is something wrong with you.) But it is a REALLY good movie. And you will probably be glad you watched the whole thing. Besides isn’t not knowing worse than knowing?

Finish it! All the cool kids are doing it. If you finish it you can have a cookie afterward. That will be good. :smiley:

Then you can go rent the anime Grave of the Fireflies. You think the Bicycle Thief is Depressing? You ain’t seen nothin’.

3

Then you can rent Germinal. *The Bicycle Thief * will seem like the feel-good movie of the epoch compared to that.

4

Germinal? A walk in the park.

Dancer in the Dark, that’s what you want.

As to the OP, The Bicycle Thief definitely isn’t feel-good-movie-of-the-year, but you should stick it out. Builds character.

5

Thank you! This is one of my favorite Zola books and I had no idea it was made into a movie!!! Woo hoo!!! Sob.

6

I love Breaking the Waves. That’s a tough one. But there are bells light over the water and redemption at the end. Is there redemption at the end of The Bicycle Thief?

Tonight two friends are coming over, bringing bottles of red wine and handkerchiefs. We’re having a hen party watching Camille, with the one, the only, the incomparable Greta Garbo. Think of me around 9:00 PM EST - I’ll be sobbing.

7

Personally, I think any movie in which Bjork dies is a feel-good movie.