1900 (1977)

Brilliant, yet not for every taste...

Bertolucci's massive epic has wonderful and grim moments, and is a must for every serious cinema buff. That said, it isn't for everyone and demands much of the viewer. Dominique Sanda's performance alone is worth your time, to say nothing of De Niro back in the days when he still acted... May 28, 2008

Nove-sucko

I am giving this movie 2 stars because of the cinemotography and the potential of the story. This endless, wanna-be epic falls short in virtually every area. The characters are one-dimensional caricatures -- simple, but noble peasants, tyrannical landowners, perverted fascists. Sometimes, as in the case of DeNiro's wife, they are just plain annoying. The plot is so slow, trivial, and oft-times bordering on ridiculous that the five plus hour run time seems like ten.

Despite the seemingly can't-miss cast, the acting is also suspect. I am a huge Robert DeNiro fan, but his voice is so flat, I prefer him in dubbed Italian. Donald Sutherland, usually restrained, overacts to the extreme. The minor parts sound considerably better in Italian than English.

As with many post-war Italian directors such as Pasolini and Visconti, Bertolucci includes several disturbing scenes attempting to depict the perverse nature of the landowners or fascists. Unfortunately, these scenes of child molestation, animal cruelty, and ear "abuse" merely suggest the perverted nature of the director himself.

Overall, there are much better uses of five hours. Curiosity seekers should probably rent as the story too simple and long to warrant repeat viewing.
May 21, 2008

A time capsule of great actors...

I can only give "1900" three stars as a movie, but I can recommend it highly for its beautiful cinematography of rural Italy and its showcase of some fine stars as they were in 1976. If you liked DeNiro as the young Don in "The Godfather", you'll see lots of the same in this movie. Burt Lancaster gives you a fine portrayal of Burt Lancaster, this time as an Italian padrone which is a bit different.

But my favorite is the young Donald Sutherland brilliantly playing his trademark oily, snarky, lewd, and opportunistic character to perfection. Nobody can make your skin crawl like the leering and grinning Sutherland. He is the best creep in the movie business...

"1900" is difficult to follow sometimes and some good editing could have removed certain scenes of gratuitous and pointless "ugh" stuff involving a cat, a pig, and a bevy of frogs. But the violence against humans is fairly tame and mostly offscreen. Still, this is an Italian movie, and I enjoyed it for showcasing some fine and interesting actors as they were 30 years ago. It's worth seeing at least once... April 28, 2008

A true landmark in the story of cinema!

The Italian Neo Realism was indeed, a hitherto in the story of Cinema. Whether Jean Renoir's Tony (1934) has been the first antecedent of this genre, the certain of case is that Bernardo Bertolucci felt an inner call in order to pay a tribute to this genre and decided to build an ambitious and colossal portrait around two families at the eve of the Century but focusing the unsaid details that remain as part of the main structure of the history; in fact we will witness to the arouse of the violence under three different positions: the fascism in two slopes, the political and the social - the tensions among the members of a wealthy family, the sordid oppression of the first Berlinghieri (Burt Lancaster in a towering performance who made us remind Visconti's The leopard) over his employers as well as the complex web of well ordered aspects of the familiar staircase; the slow advance of the black shirt movement embodied by a decadent personage as Attila(Donald Shuterland really shines in this role), the existential boredom personified in Ada (Dominique Sanda) and the presence of an indifferent Alfred who simply let the things go by, but who still keeps a narrow relationship with Olmo (Gerard Depardieu)- who eventually will be the lefty hand, and the spiritual leader of the partisans.

In this sense the violence is not merely a cheap device but is part of way of living and surviving; a huge and emblematic account of the rise and fall of ideals, hopes and illusions that Bertolucci carves in relief so boldly in the sequence final. On the other hand, Alfredo's wedding sequence works out as a well deserved homage to Luchino Visconti

It's absolute pertinent that you are aware the director sympathizes for one of these movements but that circumstance doesn't permeate this well made and extensive movie that runs 315 min. Filmed with magisterial good taste, where the marvellous angle shots united to a fabulous edition work surrounded by these enraptured landscapes make of this giant film be part of the crème de la crème films that you would never miss, in case you a hard collector of classics of the seventh art.
January 30, 2008

A disturbing, violent, fascinating epic . . .

Bernardo Bertolucci's "epic masterpiece of friendship and betrayal" is not an easy film to watch. It's long--five hours--and very violent (you will never look at actor Donald Sutherland the same way again--his performance is so disturbing--he plays a truly evil character who kills his way to power and then kills some more), but I couldn't take my eyes away from the screen. It's a gorgeous film, beautifully photographed--and the acting is amazing (besides Mr. Sutherland's captivating performance, a very young Robert DeNiro and Gerard Depardieu deliver equally outstanding performances as the two young men of different backgrounds who try to remain friends during difficult times). The two leads also shed their clothes and have a graphic sexual encounter together with a young woman, which will probably surprise you. It did me. Watching "1900" is like reading a long, juicy historical novel with wonderful characters that you grow to care about. And when it was over, I wanted more. I don't think the film is for everyone--the sex and violence might turn some people off--but the acting and epic story is worth the price of admission as far as I'm concerned. January 24, 2008

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