Review of Rocco and His Brothers (1960) by Jacob T — 08 Dec 2008

I was in awe watching this film. Giuseppe Rotunno's camera work seemed paced and fully exploting all the different shades between black and white. My favourite scenes are the rendezvous between Rocco and Nadia in Milan and the last encounter between Simone and Nadia by the lake, in which I felt a chill at the cross symbolism used by Visconti.

I loved the themes of belonging, family, honour, love. All the characters as well and got really involved and moved by their stories and perspectives. I valued Visconti's approach in avoiding a facile moral between the "modern" and "old" world represented by North and South, and the openeness to interpret their inhabitants, which gave them so much humanity, eventually adding even more to the sense of drama, tragedy and finally hope making this film one of my favourites among the rest.