Savant Review:Rocco and his BrothersGlenn 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. From DVD Talk
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