Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

I like Rocco and His Brothers better than The Leopard, because for me the story of poor rural migrants struggling in a big city is more moving than an aristocrat who realizes he has become old.

Rocco and His Brothers tells about the Parondi family. The eldest son, Vincenzo, has already been in Milan when his mother arrives with 4 more sons from southern Italy to escape from their miserable life. Things begin to get bad when the 2nd son, Simone, blinded by his initial success as a boxer, becomes a drunkard, gambler, and petty thief; and get worse when his lover Nadia falls in love with Rocco, the 3rd son.

I was lucky that when I was about to get the DVD, there was a new version coming out in the UK, with interviews, documentaries, and a 40-page booklet. Italian movies are not so easy to understand (unlike Hollywood productions) so it makes me glad if the extras on the DVD are as many as possible. The booklet contains lots of information, including why Luchino Visconti chose Alain Delon to play saintly Rocco, why it’s called Rocco and His Brothers (not Simone and His Brothers, for example), and the change of the family name from Pafundi to Parondi. Although the movie is quite long, almost 3 hours, and it wasn’t boring at all. It's a serious movie with very good studies on the characters. The rape scene is one of most moving moments in film I’ve ever seen, so is the scene when Rocco tells about the hatred grows up in him. Among the wonderful cast, in my opinion, Renato Salvatori stood out as the troubled Simone: his hopeful spirit when he first came to Milan, until how bad he turned to be in the end. Rocco and Ciro, the 4th son, both adore Simone, but they act differently. Rocco does anything for Simone's sake, but Ciro is the sensible one and does what is the best for the family. Rocco thinks that if Nadia comes back to Simone, Simone will be good again; but it’s not true; for when she is still with Simone, he has already been lazy and drunk too much. Nadia is leading a new life, but Rocco’s decision makes her lost her growing faith, and although he has a good intention, it leads them all to a tragic end.

The DVD contains 2 soundtracks: Italian and French, which enable me to hear the real
voice of Alain Delon and Annie Girardo (who interestingly murmured their dialogues in French); for both are dubbed in the Italian soundtrack. The black and white images are great. It’s nice to see how Milan looked like in 1960. The most beautiful background must be the roof of Duomo di Milano. I have a friend who told me that Italy has more beautiful buildings than anywhere in the world.