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Peculiar epic charting some forty five years of Italian history in the
twentieth century, opening on scenes of liberation at the end of the Second
World War, then backtracking to follow the years from the turn of the century,
marked by the birth of two children on a sprawling vineyard estate; one the
grandson of the master of the house (Burt Lancaster), the other the grandson of
the patriarch of the workers (Sterling Hayden). The destinies of the two boys
are intertwined throughout the film, though this unabashedly left-wing polemic
is at pains to point out that they remain eternally separate in every essential.
As adults they are played by Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu respectively.
De Niro is the largely well meaning aristocrat who is unable to transcend his
destiny despite his hopes to be different. Depardieu is the angry proletarian
who despite the friendship which he allows to develop between the two of them
remains aloof and espoused to his political principles.
Though its texture and tone is of the sweeping historical epic, and running
at over five hours it often attains a stately quality which suggests the gradual
passage of time and history through shifts and changes which alter the
perception of both, it is ultimately a very focused portrait of the evolution of
ideas of social class in twentieth century Italy. Narrative storytelling is not
its strongest element. On the contrary, the film is structured around a series
of significant incidents which illustrate the points Bertolucci is eager to make
regarding political and social inequality rather than a tightly-constructed
story of family drama. It is a political film, not an entertainment. The viewer
is not allowed to become lost in the happy haze of a gripping story well told,
but is reminded constantly that these fictional characters are elements of a
discourse which comes to an end with a rather absurdly literal coda which
portrays them as old men still squabbling without resolution like boys wrestling
in the tall grass for no reason other than because that is what they are.
Given this premise, it is not unexpected to find that the film does not so
much detail Italian history as illustrate it in abstract through its characters.
It assumes that viewers are generally familiar with the facts, and takes no time
to establish the broader geo-political contexts of the two world wars, the
Russian Revolution and the rise of fascism. Instead it concentrates on how the
lives of its central characters intersect with these things, dealing mostly with
the build up and aftermath rather than the events themselves. It is mostly set
in the confines of the plantation estate and its satellite town, with momentary
interludes in other locations. This enhances the idea that it is offered as a
microcosm of Italy, further emphasised by its constant referral within itself to
the fields, buildings and courtyards at different points in time which show how
things have changed.
Visually rich and mostly well acted, the film does offer some pleasures
despite its heavy demands of concentration and political allegiance. Its initial
stages are marked by wonderful characterisations by Hayden and Lancaster which
establish the fundamentals of the class drama which defines the film.
Lancaster's Lording over his estate is not malevolent, yet he controls the lives
of the workers by dint of his ownership of the property upon which they work.
Hayden is adamant in his assertion of the workers' right to self-determination
within these parameters, and raises them all to live as one family sharing
everything equally with no illusions as to where they come in the order of
things. In later years, De Niro is seen to continue his grandfather's legacy
(though his avaricious father contributes to the worsening of worker/master
relations during the crucial WWI period), yet to be equally unable to truly
touch the lives of his employees. His is a state of denial and retardation, a
refusal to acknowledge that his would-be kindness is equally as cruel as his
father's suppression of a strike and cutting of workers' pay, because he remains
'master'. Depardieu meanwhile is portrayed in terms of maturation, translating
his initial anger and necessary entrepreneurship into political consciousness
with the development of organised socialism. He becomes a hero through positive
action and resistance, not least of all against evil fascist farm manager Donald
Sutherland, hired by De Niro's father to run his business. Both De Niro and
Depardieu are effective playing these complex roles, and one eventually feels a
great deal of sympathy for the former despite the level of anger directed
towards him in the course of the narrative. Sutherland is quite unhinged in his
role, matched by Laura Betti as his equally demented wife. Their sexual and
violent excesses are, like the dramas of De Niro and Depardieu's characters, an
obvious symbol of the degradation of fascism rather than a particular example
(indeed, their scenes frequently threaten to turn the film into a giallo
type horror).
Obviously in order for the film to work, the viewer must accept this kind of
deliberate and transparent hyperbolic characterisation. Searching for believable
and understandable behaviour is not rewarding. Dominique Sanda (from The
Conformist) suffers particularly badly as De Niro's society wife, who
abruptly transforms from a wild beauty with a 1920s free spirit to a tortured
and lost soul when brought to live on the estate in what is clearly a polemical
contrivance rather than a mark of true character development. Stefania Sandrelli
(also of The Conformist) does not fall victim to this fate, but is
equally a cipher of intelligent, committed socialist educationalist policies
rather than a genuine personality as Depardieu's romantic interest and comrade.
Her death takes place off screen in years lost to the narrative, and does little
but provide the film with a daughter character to serve as a continuity of
socialist principles in Depardieu's subsequent absence (following a run in with
Sutherland involving horse manure).
This is the problem with the film which ultimately defeats it. Its points are
well taken, but they are made rather too heavy-handedly. Its elephantine running
time does not seem excessive given the scale of the enterprise, but it does seem
unnecessary. It establishes its premise quickly, and then proceeds to beat it to
death for five hours, ultimately ending where it began having proved little that
was not obvious from the outset. Its interplay between the various characters or
character-symbols is interesting, and the film is careful to offer as many
configurations of political and social relations as is possible in five hours,
but it does become redundant after a time. It is also slightly naive given its
wholehearted endorsement of socialism, with only its final scenes portraying the
surrender of proletarian arms to Liberation authorities and De Niro's chilling
summation that "The master is alive," suggesting that the ideals of socialism
remain frustrated by the realpolitik of the twentieth century.
For some it will still have value as a fully articulate socialist
interpretation of twentieth century history, but as cinema it has relatively
little to contribute. It is beautifully shot and decorated. It has many
memorable scenes (and some unforgettable ones) and is a tribute to the
craftsmanship with which it has been assembled. But for such a grand project it
does little that has not been done before, and so finds itself a footnote to
Bertolucci's own preceding, groundbreaking work in The Spider's Stratagem
and The Conformist. Its length alone will also damn it to restricted
audiences (though a shorter version running just over four hours is also
available), further relegating it to a sub-stratum of cinema history. It seems
that Bertolucci's vision for the film was greater than this, but that its
destiny is not to join Battleship Potemkin and The Birth of a Nation
at the vanguard of cinematic meditations upon history and political
consciousness, but to disappear into the sui-generis wasteland of
European Art House and film education.
From eircom.net
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