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Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Luchino Visconti isn't exactly the most accessible of your quality Italian directors; I have a book
about him that I've read several times but I've not been able to see many of his pictures.
The Leopard and Ossessione showed up on the old Z
channel, and both were fascinating (even with Burt Lancaster dubbed, as I remember). I've also
seen Senso, which was
great; I understand some kind of DVD is on the way for this title. But the book was full of
interesting-sounding titles that are not easy to see at all, like Bellissima and
La Vaghe stelle del'Orsa (what a great mysterious title!). Savant caught up with his return to
neo-realism, Rocco e i suoi fratelli, on laser about ten years ago and have to admit that I
appreciate it a lot more now. It's a family saga long on credibility and short on sentiment,
and a powerful show, very interesting.
Synopsis:
The penniless Parondi family, mother Rosaria (Katina Paxinou) and her four young sons,
arrive in Milan looking for a new life after their father's death trying to make a living farming in
the South. There's an older son already in Milan, Vincenzo (Spiros Focas) who's close to cementing
an engagement with Ginetta (Claudia Cardinale) and living with her family. Fiercely attending to the
needs of her brood, Rosaria uses a social gaffe by Ginetta's parents to break up the engagement and
to get Vincenzo focused on finding a place for them to live. The older boys stay with mom but as strangers
in a big city, go in separate directions: Simone (Renato Salvatori) is devious and unscrupulous and
becomes a boxer while picking up girls; Ciro (Max Cartier) is a straight shooter who studies and
eventually becomes a factory auto mechanic, and the sensitive, virtuous Rocco (Alain Delon, dubbed
into Italian) works odd jobs. The story charts several years of events that show the kinds of bonds
that hold the family together, and the tensions that strain relationships. Simone takes up with
Nadia (Annie Giradot), a prostitute who leaves him after a while, whereupon he becomes something of a
thug and lets his boxing career slide. Rocco meets Nadia later, and his goodness inspires her to
change her life. But just as hope and happiness seems possible, Simone discovers what's going on and
becomes destructively jealous and vindictive. The better athlete, Rocco becomes a boxing star to
try and salvage his brother's life, but nobody's plans turn out exactly as hoped.
Country cousins trying to make it in the big city is a theme from just about every culture, but
Visconti's tale of the Parondis takes none of the melodramatic turns you might expect. The hicks
from the south are naive about modern living in a big city like Milan, and woefully undereducated,
but they're treated in totally unsentimental terms. The boys suit up at the gym in their long-john
underwear, not understanding when they're laughed at, but they have a good sense of dignity and a
fresh optimism that places them in good stead in their struggle to subsist.
The ostensible hero is
actually the most naive. Rocco interacts with such thoughtful shyness and responds to cynicism with
such direct honesty that he elicits trust in all directions. He melts the heart of a hardboiled working
girl, and the transformation she undergoes is the most uplifting thing in the movie. Brother Simone
would be a total villain in anyone else's picture, but the character's evolution from insecure ambition
to brutish cruelty is charted in an arc that never condemns him outright, even when he commits terrible
crimes. He's playing out his character, but for part of the way it's only because
he's enabled by the charitable support of his 'good' brother. Rocco's inability to see anything
bad in others inadvertently does just as much damage to those around him. It's a very interesting
dynamic, and it keeps Rocco and his Brothers from becoming just another
soap opera.
Standouts in the cast play equally unsentimentalized characters: Katina Paxinou
(For Whom the Bell Tolls) is an emotional cyclone of an
Italian Mama, but her survival instincts make things tough for the women with whom her boys
become involved. A happy party turns into a total disaster because of her thin skin, and her condemnation
of Ginetta certainly makes things worse for poor Vincenzo. Mama Parondi's screaming dramatic fireworks with Nadia are gripping
because we know enough about both women to feel the tragedy: Mama cannot see past the putana to know
that Nadia is a good woman without options; So thoroughly has Nadia given up on herself, that all her
energy is devoted to lashing out at those around her. Renato Salvatore makes Simone less a victim of
fate than a selfish lout just following his true nature, and Alain Delon is surprisingly excellent
as the sweet and devoted Rocco. We're far more used to seeing him as a ruthless character in pictures
like Le Samorai.
A major pleasure of Rocco and his Brothers is simply seeing its portrait of life in
working-class Milan in 1960. Beautifully directed in the housing projects and streets of the city,
this is a prime example of a film which will accrue historical interest simply because it shows
so much of how people lived and what places looked like (now) 40 years ago. The Parondis don't know
how they're ever going to find a home they can afford, until they get clued in on how the
system works: if you're struggling, you take an apartment you can't afford. Only when you're
evicted do you qualify for low-cost or free government housing.
Image's DVD of Rocco and his Brothers is a very handsome 1:66 transfer that does a good job
of showing off Giuseppe Rotunno(On the Beach)'s wonderful B&W photography. Apparently heavily
cut here in the states for its original release, the packaging takes pains to emphasize the fact that
this is a full-length restoration at 168 minutes. Yet the IMDB says 182 in Italy and 175 for the US,
which may of course be an error. There's certainly no feeling of anything being missing. There's no specific copyright
holder listed on the DVD case, which is odd because Image usually acts as a semi-distributor for
separate content providers. Nino Rota's music score is
very impressive and deceptively unobtrusive; it's far more accomplished than his dour melodies for
the Godfather films. A couple of songs are heard in the track that Mrs. Savant said
captured exactly the tone of melancholy singers she heard in Italy in the early '70s, especially the
tune over the end credits.The film has removeable English subtitles, is in mono and has no extras; if
you want real insight into its place in the Visconti canon, it's a trip to library for you.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Rocco and his Brothers rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Very Good
Sound: Very Good
Supplements: None
Packaging: Amaray case
Reviewed: November 11, 2001
DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson
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