Review of Rocco and His Brothers (1960) by Fernando C — 08 Sep 2007

An impressive film, an opera of everyday life, magnificent and unforgettable, at the same time prefabricated and natural, intended and spontaneous. We know that Visconti is in control, yet the characters seem so real and vivid that they exist inside their own universe and don't let us go for a "lifetime", three hours during which we immerse ourselves in love, deception and brutality, excesses, greed and egoism.

The tragedy of all comes from the fact that all is possible (I didn't find the violence exaggerated in the smallest bit: I even thought it was understated), and that we have learned to "live" with these characters, instead of just watching some actors perform.

The cinematography is striking, especially in the spectacular box matches, which are at once beautiful and intensely cruel, as is the life that binds the Parondis in poverty and loneliness. For, even though they all live in the same cluttered home, they are all intensely lonely and detached, building their own world by theirselves.

Just look at the punishment Ciro receives for daring to communicate and attempt to keep them all together. Their isolation is shared and necessary, as if they were ignoring that they are all different.

Quite a normal story of a normal family, I would say.