At first glance, the feverish Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009; dir. Herzog) and the neorealist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves (1948; dir. De Sica) couldn’t seem more different.
One is a wild, chaotic exploration of a cop’s descent into corruption and madness; the other, a restrained and heartbreaking portrait of a father and husband fighting against poverty in post-war Italy. Yet, both films share a core theme—the devastating impact of despair on morality.
Both these films uncover a shared meditation on moral frailty and the societal forces that shape our behaviors. At the heart of this lies an equally compelling notion. Forgiveness—whether from others, from society, or from oneself—plays a crucial role in each protagonist’s journey, framing the possibilities of moral recovery and personal redemption.
The Despair of Circumstance
Both Bad Lieutenant and Bicycle Thieves center on protagonists trapped by their circumstances.
• In Bicycle Thieves, Antonio Ricci is a man whose survival depends on a single object, his bicycle. The means by which he finally lands a much needed job. When a thief rides off with his bicycle while hanging posters for his employer, Antonio’s ability to work and provide for his family is shattered. His growing despair is not born of personal weakness but of a brutal economic system that offers no safety net.
• In Bad Lieutenant, Lieutenant Terence McDonagh’s despair is more self-inflicted but still deeply tied to the cracks in his society. His painkiller addiction is brought on by an injury endured in an act of heroism, but the spiraling effects of addiction, systemic corruption, and his own moral failings push him deeper into chaos.
Both films portray despair as more than an emotional state. Antonio and McDonagh are not solely struggling against their own choices; they are fighting against systems that perpetuate failure, poverty, and corruption.
Morality in Crisis
For me, the most compelling aspect of both films is how their protagonists’ despair drives them to moral failure.
• Antonio, a loving father and husband, begins the film with a clear purpose—to find work and support his struggling family. But his choices become problematic as his search for his stolen bicycle, the means by which he can carry his family out of poverty, grows increasingly hopeless. The heartbreaking climax sees Antonio attempting to steal a bicycle himself, his desperation finally overriding his sense of right and wrong.
• McDonagh begins Bad Lieutenant as a seemingly decent cop. There’s little go on about his character in the shaft of the film but what we do so his impactful. In the opening scene, we automatically contrast him with his morally bankrupt partner while McDonagh establishes himself as a man capable of altruism and moral action. Notably, he injures himself while rescuing a prisoner trapped in a flooded jail cell during Hurricane Katrina—a selfless act that earns him a promotion to lieutenant. This moment paints McDonagh as a good cop, or at least one with a moral core. The slide following his injury is drastic. His abuses of power, addiction, gambling debts, and taking advantage of the chaos in post-Katrina New Orleans seem to indicate he has become irredeemable. Yet, like Antonio, his moral lapses are driven by desperation.
In both films, morality is portrayed as a fragile construct, easily eroded by external pressures. The protagonists are not inherently bad; they are human, shaped by the choices they make in impossible situations.
The Role of Forgiveness
Where the films differ most sharply is in how they address forgiveness—and how forgiveness shapes the paths to redemption.
• In Bicycle Thieves, when Antonio’s attempt to steal a bicycle fails, he is caught by an angry mob and humiliated in front of his son. The owner of the bicycle, seeing Antonio’s desperation and Antonio’s son’s pain watching his father fall so far, chooses to forgive him, letting him go without pressing charges. This act of forgiveness allows Antonio to walk away with his son, but the longterm effects are unknown. While the individual has forgiven Antonio, the societal forces that led to Antonio’s actions remain in play, and his relationship with his son may never be the same again even if the film ends with the two of them holding hands as they presumably walk home.
• In Bad Lieutenant, McDonagh doesn’t seek forgiveness from those he has wronged, nor does the film explicitly show anyone offering it to him. Instead, McDonagh’s journey hinges on self-forgiveness. A choice that is ultimately catalyzed by a chance encounter with the man he rescued from the flood jail cell. Furthermore, by solving the murder case and protecting his girlfriend Frankie, he begins to reconcile with his own failures, inching toward a sense of moral redemption. Here, forgiveness is less about absolution and more about the ongoing struggle to move forward despite one’s transgressions.
Despair, Forgiveness, and Hope
Both Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Bicycle Thieves explore how despair erodes morality, but they also highlight how forgiveness allows for the possibility of redemption.
Antonio and McDonagh both stumble into moral failure due to the trappings of their respective situations. Antonio is forgiven by the bicycle owner and, hopefully, by his son. McDonagh’s redemption is more solitary, built on the foundation of self-forgiveness and small, redemptive acts.
Both films leave us questioning the nature of forgiveness and its role in redemption. Can forgiveness truly heal the wounds of moral failure? We are also confronted with another more difficult question. Do these films imply that morality itself is a fragile construct that must be constantly renegotiated in the face of despair and other challenges? Or, is morality eternal with inherently good or bad acts regardless of the circumstances of our choices?
Ultimately, these films remind us that forgiveness is not just a gift we give to others—it can also be a lifeline we throw to ourselves. Allowing us to climb out of despair and find a path, however flawed, toward hope.
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