POSSIBLE SPOILERS§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
The brothers subject is recurrent in the Italian cinema.To name but three,Visconi's "Rocco ei suoi fratelli",Rosi's "tre fratelli "and Zurlini's "cronaca familiare",the latter recalling Ameli's work the most.
This movie is in stark contrast with the three previous ones,because it's not linear.There are gaps which the audience has got to fill:some important events are not on the screen:Pietro with his teachers,why he ran away,the reasons for the crime,and why Pietro is arrested when the picture shows that he's innocent,the list could go on endlessly.
Don't get me wrong;I enjoy this movie very much.The director knew his subject could verge on melodrama and he avoided it masterfully.After all,we only know the other people during slices of life,unless we live with them every day and even...Others' life are jigsaw puzzles of which we can only try to fit the pieces together again.
The elder brother lives in a dream,and his dream is not over when the end blatantly denies it .He sacrifices his life to allow his brother to become a teacher.Some of his occupations are shady,that's the least we can say,and the end of the fifth segment remains highly ambiguous:did he become a coward ?The young brother,Pietro,is ambiguous to a fault:unsympathetic at first encounter,his character is not that simple:he might be hateful(his attitude with the poor family at the beginning) or generous (if we admit,and we should,that he did not commit the crime);a lazy dunce (we never see him study) or a brilliant kid (he can recite any poem of the writer of his exam);an elegant dandy or a human wreck (the last segment).
This last segment is the most impressive:a director has rarely been more disturbing:while the big brother's words proudly praises Pietro's qualities and his brilliant future ,the picture refutes it completely. And we almost believe in his laudatory terms.It takes the tutor's explanations to crack the mirror.
But the mirror is intact for the big brother.
The brothers subject is recurrent in the Italian cinema.To name but three,Visconi's "Rocco ei suoi fratelli",Rosi's "tre fratelli "and Zurlini's "cronaca familiare",the latter recalling Ameli's work the most.
This movie is in stark contrast with the three previous ones,because it's not linear.There are gaps which the audience has got to fill:some important events are not on the screen:Pietro with his teachers,why he ran away,the reasons for the crime,and why Pietro is arrested when the picture shows that he's innocent,the list could go on endlessly.
Don't get me wrong;I enjoy this movie very much.The director knew his subject could verge on melodrama and he avoided it masterfully.After all,we only know the other people during slices of life,unless we live with them every day and even...Others' life are jigsaw puzzles of which we can only try to fit the pieces together again.
The elder brother lives in a dream,and his dream is not over when the end blatantly denies it .He sacrifices his life to allow his brother to become a teacher.Some of his occupations are shady,that's the least we can say,and the end of the fifth segment remains highly ambiguous:did he become a coward ?The young brother,Pietro,is ambiguous to a fault:unsympathetic at first encounter,his character is not that simple:he might be hateful(his attitude with the poor family at the beginning) or generous (if we admit,and we should,that he did not commit the crime);a lazy dunce (we never see him study) or a brilliant kid (he can recite any poem of the writer of his exam);an elegant dandy or a human wreck (the last segment).
This last segment is the most impressive:a director has rarely been more disturbing:while the big brother's words proudly praises Pietro's qualities and his brilliant future ,the picture refutes it completely. And we almost believe in his laudatory terms.It takes the tutor's explanations to crack the mirror.
But the mirror is intact for the big brother.