There's no point

I had trouble placing Bicycle Thieves within the realm of neo-realism at first.  Then I reviewed my notes and saw that it fits into our basic description of neo-realism.  It says that neo-realism presents a problem and then suggests possible solutions to those problems.  I imagined that the problems presented in neo-realistic films would be overtly related to the government.  However, Bicycle Thieves is not and it does classify as neo-realism according to our class definition.  The first problem presented is being unemployed and needing a bicycle to acquire the only available job.  The main character’s wife comes up with a solution to the problem: she sells their bed sheets in order to buy the bike back.  The rest of the film suggests solutions to a different problem.  The main character’s bike (and, essentially, his job and means of living) is stolen and the majority of the film suggests ways to get it back.  It suggests looking for the bike or its parts in the markets, tracking down the man who stole it, and stealing someone else’s bike.  The thing that confused me about this film in relation to neo-realism is the ending.  Since the bike is never found and stealing another bike does not work, the suggestion is that all the suggested solutions are futile.  It feels like a message the government would be glad to have presented in film: don’t bother trying to fix things yourself because you’ll just end up tired and disappointed.  This message is the main reason I have trouble calling this a neo-realist film.