The Bicycle Thieves, Me and the Minister

…Those on the edge stay on the edge, learn to walk alone…

The Bicycle Thieves, an Italian film directed by Vittorio de Sica is indeed quite riveting, a film that tells the story of a person (Antonio Ricci played by Lamberto Maggiorani) who loses a bicycle and then looks for it with his son (Bruno). Ricci, fought by Enzo Stoila).

The extraordinary acting that both of them do, looks very real. But unfortunately this scribble is not to fully discuss the film, not a synopsis, review or film criticism, I don't understand too much about the film, I'm just a connoisseur.

This scribble just wants to tell about one of the scenes in the film, when Antonio reported the loss of his bicycle to the authorities, a bicycle that was 'very valuable' to him. After writing the report, signature, stamp, done. Please find your own bicycle, it takes all the officers to find your bicycle which there are very many in this city.

Obviously you've reported! That's roughly one of the scenes in the film tells the story. So I think, what would happen if Antonio was the official in the story who reported the loss of his bicycle? Maybe the storyline will change and become less interesting.

Why is this story so interesting to me? A little vent, in the past few years I've stolen 'almost all' of the things I own that I don't need to mention the details. Twice I also reported this to the local authorities, and?? Predictably, not much different from the story of the film The Bicycle Thieves . Well, it's almost the same, not exactly the same, especially the timing and the only fiction isn't it.

So what does that have to do with the Minister?

Several years ago, before I wrote this scribble, maybe some of you have heard of this news, the minister was tricked by an ABG boy through online shopping, the value is "One million rupiah". This story is indeed different, the two paragraphs above are about theft and “theft” while the Minister regarding fraud “cheated” is certainly different, as is the handling. Not long after it was reported, the fraudster was caught. Great..

In one scene of the film, Antonio said "If only you knew how valuable a bicycle is to me", bicycles for him have a job, about the future, about the stomach of his family.

Value, this time talking a little about value, for those who have billions, what does it mean to lose tens of millions, those who have tens of millions mean hundreds, but those who have tens of thousands, lose ten thousand for him near the end of the world. Maybe the loss experienced by the Minister means a lot to him, so it must require seriousness from the authorities. I don't know..

The Bicycle Thieves, The Minister and I are different, very different. The only one is a film, a fiction fought by factory workers. I am an ordinary citizen who pays a little tax, and the Minister, of course, pays a lot of tax.

film The Bicycle Thieves, made in 1949, has a lot to say about poverty, injustice, hopelessness.

…and that year, 2014… is there any difference this year (2022)?

(This article was previously published in the author's personal block in Indonesian, with modifications as necessary)