ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS Movie Review

Rocco et Ses Freres
Rocco e I Suoi Fratelli

A classic film from Italy's Luchino Visconti, about the impact on the lives of four brothers when they move with their widowed mother (Katina Paxinou) from the Italian countryside to a very different lifestyle in Milan. The fate of each of the sons is chronicled in marvelous detail over the course of the film's three hours, and the cumulative effect is extraordinary. Visconti gives us a portrait of the impact of environment and corruption on family bonds, love, and loyalties in a way that would be taken further—and in a different direction—years later by Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo in The Godfather. The assured narrative flow and extraordinary performances (in particular those of Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, and Claudia Cardinale) require a longer attention span than some of today's audiences are used to, but the rewards of Rocco are mighty. Seen originally in the U.S. in a butchered and pointless 90-minute version, Rocco and His Brothers has at last been restored to its original length and visual quality. The evocative black-and-white images, most shot on location, were photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno (The Leopard, Fellini Satyricon, Popeye); the haunting score is by Nino Rota (La Dolce Vita, The Godfather).

NEXT STOP … Ossessione, I Vitelloni, Mean Streets

1960 175m/B IT Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Claudia Cardinale, Roger Hanin; D: Luchino Visconti; M: Nino Rota. VHS, LV, Letterbox VDM, CVC, TPV