Just after the end of World War I "the problem of finance ... encouraged filmmakers to create a kind of movie that would no longer be dependent on fiction and on invented themes ... but would draw on the reality of everyday life" (Beaver 256).
             This statement by director/actor Victorio De Sica exemplifies typical Italian neorealist mentality. In 1948 De Sica collaborates with screenwriter and theoretical founder of neorealism, Cesare Zavattini to create Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief). The film is set just after World War I. After being out of work for two years Antonio Ricci is offered a job hanging movie posters, provided he has a bicycle to use as transportation. He and his wife, Maria, pawn the linen sheets to pay for the bicycle that is eventually stolen on his first day at work, Friday. With his son Bruno by his side, Antonio must find the bicycle before Monday or he'll lose his job. Along with its universal themes, this film is one of the premier films of the Italian Neorealist movement of the late 1940s. While the cinematic effects and storytelling of The Bicycle Thief support the themes and style of the film, they also reveal the influence of society and culture.
             The most universal theme of the film is the importance of family relationships during hardship and misfortune. At the end of the film after Antonio is caught attempting to steal a bicycle, the men let him go when they see little Bruno crying for his father. The last few shots are of Antonio and Bruno walking away from the men. The camera alternates between close-ups of father and son. Antonio faces forward, too shameful to look at his son, while Bruno glances up at him then back forward. The second to last shot is a close-up of Bruno's hand grabbing his father's followed by a long shot of the two of them walking away from the camera and blending in to the crowd as if to signify their struggles concern many of the mas...