A história se passa logo após a Segunda Grande Guerra, com a Itália destruída e o povo passando necessidade. Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) consegue um emprego após muita espera. Só que esse emprego, de colador cartazes na rua, lhe pedia como obrigação uma bicicleta. Ricci e sua mulher Maria (Lianella Carell) conseguem um dinheiro para uma, possibilitando que ele realize o seu trabalho. Há também o menino Bruno (Enzo Staiola), filho do casal. Fascinado por bicicletas, o menino cai de cabeça com o pai na busca pela bicicleta que lhes foi roubada, quando Ricci trabalhava apenas em seu primeiro dia.
A documentary about the Venetian lagoon, with the words of Diego Fabbri narrating scenes of strips of land swallowed up by the sea, of small boats sailing on the water, of men and women concentrating on their work in a world which is “a false sea and a false land”.
This is a documentary film on the romantic and decadent atmosphere of Venice at the end of the 18th century. A vigorous comment by Jean Cocteau tells us of the sick souls and the sorrows of literary characters and musicians who lived the dream of this city. It is the Venice of Lord Byron, Alfred de Musset, George Sand, d'Annunzio; a Venice made of precious images, palaces reflected in the water, mysterious moonlights, little squares where unhappy lovers wander under the music of Richard Wagner.
This propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who, after winning the title with Al Capone’s help in 1933, was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the ‘Brown Bomber’ Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935, on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and pro-Fascist Italian-Americans. The film overturns historical facts and here, obviously, it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan Italians” over the “sinister Jewish entrepreneurs” and the “savage Afro-American fans in Yankee Stadium”. In the film, these were played by South African prisoners-of-war interred in a work camp, which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà “for cinematic purposes”.
