Analysis of M and Bicycle Thieves
One thing that both movies, M and Bicycle Thieves, share collectively is the open ending; both movies make audiences interpret their own perception or ending of the movies. Also, both movies contain a sense of tragedy in the final scenes; in the movie M, I felt somewhat sympathetic toward the mentally ill killer even though I knew he was the serial killer and might be pretending to get away. The feeling of sympathy toward the serial killer in the presence of his victim’s families also made me feel guilty about my feelings. Also, in Bicycle Thieves, when Antonio stole the bike, I wanted him to get away without his son finding out about it, which is also a contradictory or immoral feeling knowing that the “theft” was the reason for his plight, and by stealing someone’s bicycle, he is going to place someone in his situation. Also, Antonio turned into a thief in front of his son due his circumstances shows audiences a sense of tragedy. Both of the movies did not provide a satisfactory ending that we as classic Hollywood viewers expect; instead, it allowed audiences to interpret their own endings and place audiences in action.
The movie M is an important part of film history because it was the stepping stone for the serial killer genre. At the beginning, the serial killer writes a letter to the press, and the police uses that letter, handwriting, and fingerprints to find who the killer is; this kind of scenes are part of many serial killer or crime movies and TV shows ever since. This movie was important because it was the first sound film by Fritz Lang. Moreover, this movie was influenced by German Expressionism, but it was not a German Expressionist movie. The movie Bicycle Thieves is an important part of film history because it was a neorealist movie, which reflected real people and their problems post World War II in Italy.
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