Impossible not to have some Italian classic film while watching this movie as it used again the theme of the stolen bicycle. The eponymous bicycle is here coveted by two teenagers as a means to get their places in society. One needs to earn his living, the other one needs it to get social recognition at school. The bike gets therefore a significant metaphorical meaning in both cases, and it becomes a matter of life. They both struggle to keep it and their despair succeeds in moving the viewer. A beautiful film which outrages us through the depiction of unfair situations and that's the film's greatest strength.