Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers) (1960)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Stefanie C

  
  Beautiful, brilliant, and brutal! A universal tale of man and his environment. This film can be viewed as a social commentary of Southern versus Northern Italy and five different adaptations to modernization. The five brothers are compared to the five fingers on a hand ~ joined, yet… More
  Beautiful, brilliant, and brutal! A universal tale of man and his environment. This film can be viewed as a social commentary of Southern versus Northern Italy and five different adaptations to modernization. The five brothers are compared to the five fingers on a hand ~ joined, yet each posits alternatives to existence. Structurally, this is shown in the films chapters devoted to each son. Vincenzo elects the petit-bourgeouis mileu; Simone, the brother with initial promise, maladapts, descending to animalism; Rocco chooses sacrifice, holding steadfast to the family clan and nostalgia; Ciro reveals integration within Milan society; and, finally, Luca offers promise. Visconti masterfully builds tension and characterization with the cinematic details of lighting, music, and montage.

• Stella D

  
  the melodramatic tale of a close-knit family's move from the rural south to the big northern city of milan, where everything gets complicated. once again visconti managed to suck me into a 3 hour epic. the film has two things i generally enjoy, boxing and a young alain delon.… More
  the melodramatic tale of a close-knit family's move from the rural south to the big northern city of milan, where everything gets complicated. once again visconti managed to suck me into a 3 hour epic. the film has two things i generally enjoy, boxing and a young alain delon. delon is beautifully restrained right up until the final scene as the too-good-to-be-true rocco, who sacrifices everything, including the woman he loves, in an attempt to hold his family together. this is quite a different role for him, best known for his supercool criminal characters of the 60's. even better is renato salvatori as his amoral brother simone, and annie girardot as the prostitute who comes between them, leading ultimately to their destruction. there are a couple of really brutal scenes and the climax is overwrought to the point of opera. it's been said visconti cast the film with his dick but he draws gritty performances from his gorgeous actors and they are certainly lovely to watch :)

• Elvira B

  
  Rocco and his Brothers probably has some sort of socialist hidden meaning, I'm sure of it. But since I didn't see it, I'm writing from my point of view -I am warning you that there's much more to look for in here than what I might have found-. Rocco ei suoi… More
  Rocco and his Brothers probably has some sort of socialist hidden meaning, I'm sure of it. But since I didn't see it, I'm writing from my point of view -I am warning you that there's much more to look for in here than what I might have found-. Rocco ei suoi fratelli centers on a family of five brothers and a widowed mother. They move up to Milan from middle Italy, leaving their homeland behind. At first they struggle to adapt to the conditions of the city, all the while maintaining themselves a close-knit traditional family. But as the second oldest son begins to develop a successful boxing career, the vices inherent to a citadin life begin to get in the way of their harmony, embodied by the callgirl (Annie Girardot) he takes as girlfriend. She brings dischord between brothers by falling later for Rocco, the second to youngest. He is all goodness, forgiveness, and fanatical about his family and his traditions, played very movingly by Alain Delon. <p>As the story unfolds, Simone -the boxer brother- begins to grow fatter and weary, whereas Rocco begins to shine in the same sport... this stirs up jealousy and fear, respectively. When Simone loses the prostitute's love, Rocco wins it, and a dangerous rivalry is thus born. Simone, the decrepit figure -the citadin, corrupted by Milan- becomes Rocco's -the saintly, the countryman- worst enemy. He beats Rocco unconscious after finding him with the girl one evening, and then proceeds to humiliate her in his presence... yet his little brother insists that he should give her up, send her back to Simone, and forgive his brutality. The forces of extreme evil and extreme goodness seem to collide in a series of dramatic sequences, and it is self-evident that neither is ideal. Rocco's irrational good nature harms, instead of protects, him and his loved ones; the same can be said, of course, of Simone's over-the-top machismo. </p> The real issue that Rocco and his Brothers touches on, to me, is finding the correct balance, the correct place to be, the correct sense of justice. Country or city? Whichever you choose, don't allow you environment to be stronger than your individuality, and so on. The film is thought-provoking but only on one hand, because it is also outstadingly raw, visceral, and earthy in the way that the best Neo-realist films are. So far, this is the highlight of Luchino Visconti's cinematography in my book.

• Eric B

  
  Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers" is classified as neo-realism but, given a director known for opulent period epics like "The Leopard" and "Senso," the film is much more cinematic than gritty works like "Open City" and "The… More
  Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers" is classified as neo-realism but, given a director known for opulent period epics like "The Leopard" and "Senso," the film is much more cinematic than gritty works like "Open City" and "The Bicycle Thief." It also features actors with movie-star glamour rather than amateurs who just seem plucked off the street. "Rocco" lasts almost three hours, but its central theme is simple: a family losing its innocence. The Parondi clan -- a mother plus sons Simone (Renato Salvatori), Rocco (Alain Delon), Ciro and Luca -- leaves a rural town in southern Italy and moves to Milan. They reunite with eldest son Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), who is engaged to ravishing Ginetta (a pre-stardom Claudia Cardinale, woefully underused). The families of Vincenzo and Ginetta do not get along, but this is just the start of the Parondis' troubles. They have little money and squeeze themselves into a squalid flat, knowing they soon will be evicted when they can't afford the rent. We learn this is standard procedure for peasants entering the city -- the eviction is actually desirable because it qualifies them for government housing. Once the family moves to a new apartment, the plot focuses on the brothers' struggles to get ahead. The film has explicitly titled sections for each of the brothers but, really, the story is about Rocco and Simone. The two mirror each other. Simone aspires to be a boxer, and falls in love with a charming prostitute named Nadia (Annie Girardot). Rocco follows his lead, both professionally and romantically. Simone broods and loses his way, while the more poetic, innocent Rocco finds ambivalent success. But tragedy lurks around the corner. Visconti's direction is always stately and elegant, even when his settings are obviously decrepit. Content to let his characters carry the action, he's not a filmmaker like Fellini or Bertolucci whose roaming camerawork calls attention to itself. He does borrow Fellini stalwart Nino Rota to compose the score, however. Meanwhile, the young Delon and Girardot are especially affecting in their roles -- it's easy to see why both of them had lengthy careers (even if Delon's romantic turn is miles removed from the icy criminals that were his later signature). Often cited as an influence on "The Godfather" for its operatic depiction of rival brothers, "Rocco and His Brothers" is a landmark saga that should not be missed.

• Laura C

  
  This film examines family loyalties, industrialization of cities and the struggle to better one's self amid this economic surge. Rocco has 3 other brothers and his anxious mother to care for since the death of his father. The decision is made to move them from a quiet country… More
  This film examines family loyalties, industrialization of cities and the struggle to better one's self amid this economic surge. Rocco has 3 other brothers and his anxious mother to care for since the death of his father. The decision is made to move them from a quiet country existence into Milan, Italy, with the hope that more money can be made in the city. I thought this film was absorbing as Rocco earnestly struggles to provide a good life for his family. He puts all the weight on his shoulders despite the fact that his brothers are quite capable of helping out as well. I became frustrated as Rocco plays the martyr for his womanizing, alcoholic older brother who keeps messing up while Rocco takes the fall. To make matters worse they fall in love with the same woman. She is a prostitute who genuinely loves one brother, but becomes more like a pawn in their game than an object of affection. Tragically, this adds to her feelings of self-hatred. Rocco does not seem to fit in this new world and the film captures how he is torn between loyalty to his family and being true to himself. Don't worry I didn't give away the entire film, there's much to see in this 3 hour saga. It is a solid narrative. Beautiful actors and beautifully shot, I also found the film to be very satisfying on a visual level.

• Lauren D

  
  For the most part, I found it boring. As Alain Delon has made his way from not existing one day, to my favourite actor the next, I loved him in it. It was quite weird actually, when he cried, I actually had to hold back tears; despite me not caring at all about the events of the movie… More
  For the most part, I found it boring. As Alain Delon has made his way from not existing one day, to my favourite actor the next, I loved him in it. It was quite weird actually, when he cried, I actually had to hold back tears; despite me not caring at all about the events of the movie or the characters (and me being an unemotional robot in RL). He is just that awesome.

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