DVD Review: Rocco and his Brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli)
Rocco and his Brothers
Directed by Luchino Visconti. Cast: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Giradot, Katina Paxinou. Released September 6, 1960 (released the following June in the USA). Running time: 177 minutes.
Milestone video has released a stunning blu ray of Luchino Visconti’s masterpiece about family conflict. “Rocco and his Brothers” is a film of striking visual imagery, compelling drama, and fascinating varied characters.
The problem with appreciating film as art, or as history (or both) is the realization that there not only are too many movies to reach, there are actually too many cinematic masterpieces to screen in the course of a normal lifetime. This is the first time I had the opportunity to screen “Rocco and his Brothers” having read about its significance for years. It is one of the finest films of its kind.
When an Italian matriarch is widowed, she moves from Lucania to Milano with her four sons in tow. A fifth son already lives there. The film initially shows the struggles of coping with a new environment, including family conflicts. This escalates when Rocco comes home from military service and begins a torrid affair with a prostitute who had been in a relationship with his brother Simone, a boxer.
The narrative is a fascinating study of the human condition, with each brother representing a separate personality type. Sometimes these blend, other times they clash. The matriarch looks upon herself as the hand upon which each of the five sons is a finger. The film examines each one of the sons and presents how they fit within the story. Standard narrative features like the dream for a better life permeate each individual’s trajectory, but they are varied and separately interesting. The film shows how each one becomes a part of the big city’s ability to devour its own.
Rocco’s character appears to be the centerpiece of the narrative, his idealism wavering from rugged to noble. Simone is his counterpart, a man of greed and immediate satisfaction. Their conflict over the prostitute Nadia causes Simone’s desire for vengeance to come to the forefront. Alain Delon is quite brilliant as Rocco, but, arguably, it is Renato Salvatori who has the more challenging role as the troubled and conflicted Simone. Katina Paxinou is the mother who attempts to keep everything balanced.
What is most astounding is the masterful cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno. Guided by director Visconti, the succession of shots is an artful display of cinematic vision. Note the scene where the youngest brother hollers to Vincenzio who is working atop a huge building that is being erected. The shots from overhead as well as the long shot where the structure commands all of the negative space, really uses the widescreen image most effectively. The black and white imagery is bleak in some scenes, dark in others. The sharpness of the restoration on the Milestone blu ray allows us to truly appreciate the visual composition.
On the Milestone blu ray, Martin Scorsese introduces the film, and one can see how it profoundly influenced his own work. There are elements in this film that Scorsese later used in his own classics like Mean Streets (1973).
The blu ray has an entire disc of special features including outtakes, interviews, and a fascinating before-and-after section showing how the restoration enhanced the visual images.
One of the most important home video releases of the current year, “Rocco and his Brothers” is a film that should be a basic part of anyone’s collection, especially libraries, research centers, and universities. It is, quite frankly, one of the best movies ever made.
The blu ray is available here.