Someone could accuse
The Bicycle thief (1948) of being a tear-jerker because in the end when Bruno's hand reaches for his dad's it certainly draws a tear and it was expertly done by the man De Sica. Like a dentist of many a year's practice De Sica pokes your innards until finally resistance is broken down and out it comes: compassion for the suffering of others in the shape of a tear. Does it feel good? It seems odd to say that but finding that link with another person's suffering makes you feel part of the human race and lifts your spirit of solidarity. Next time I go to the polling booth to choose the next government having had this movie experience will help me decide who to vote for.
The film is almost documentary in style and depicts life in Italy and probably in much of Europe during the late forties. Above all that for me it depicts the enviable relationship of a father and son . When they go for a piza Antonio tells his son Bruno that they are going to get drunk and what would his mother say if she saw him now? But it was OK because they were both men!
Even if De Sica deliberately set out to make a tear-jerker and to make some political statement you will let him take you there.
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