Truth and Consequences

If Vittorio De Sica had directed only one movie, the 1948 drama “Bicycle Thieves,” his name would still be enshrined in the history of cinema. That film—screening Sept. 16-19 in Film Forum’s monthlong De Sica retrospective (Sept. 9-Oct. 8)—is perhaps the quintessential work of Italian neorealism, and it displays the movement’s glories as well as its limitations. It’s the story of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), an unemployed man in Rome who is hired as a poster hanger, contingent on his owning a bicycle. During his first day on the job, his bicycle is stolen, and he frantically searches the city for it, accompanied by his young son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola).