WE THE LIVING Movie Review

Director Goffredo Alessandrini's sprawling, solemn, three-hour 1942 version of Ayn Rand's first novel was originally designed to be seen as two separate films. We the Living is intermittently amusing, usually unintentionally, but is far too grandly self-important to be fully enjoyed as camp. Alida Valli's politically incorrect affair with counter-revolutionary Rossano Brazzi puts her in a precarious position with party officials, and in typical Randian fashion the convoluted plot leads her to a tortured decision over whether or not to abandon her principles while under the thumb of a tyrannical, collectivist system. This picture was made under Mussolini's watch, but it became apparent only after its completion that despite its anti-communist rhetoric, Rand's message was equally vituperative in its disdain for all forms of tyranny. It was promptly banned, and went unseen in the U.S. until the late 1980s, when a restored version was re-released theatrically, to modest success. (As lugubrious as this thing is, it's a still hell of a lot more fun than the icily worshipful documentary on Rand, A Sense of Life, which was actually nominated for a 1997 Academy Award.)

NEXT STOP … The Fountainhead, Bitter Rice, Seven Beauties

1942 174m/B IT Alida Valli, Rossano Brazzi, Fosco Giachetti; D: Goffredo Alessandrini. VHS, LV LUM