Monday, October 2, 2006
The Best of Youth
Yes, everybody makes a big deal about how long this film is: 366 min (or about 6 hours), but it's time well spent. I really enjoyed this film. It's an epic film over a span of 40 years, from 1963 to 2003. Using a family as its focal point, the film reflects the changing politics and the society in Italy during that period of time. Nicola and Matteo are brothers with distinct personalities. Nicola becomes a doctor to help the patients in abusive mental hospitals. He meets and falls in love with Giulia who becomes member of the Red Brigades. Matteo joins the army compulsively and becomes a police man. They, along with their family and friends, experience love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, happiness and tragedy, ideality and reality, right and wrong, birth and death, and basically, their lives. Just like when I was watching the "The Godfather," the fascinating story of these characters are so engrossing that I don't feel the movie is six hour long at all. The film is a celebration of humanity. It shows how an Italian family stays together despite the life changing events and difficulties over the years. It shows love and forgiveness can unite people together and give us happiness in return. My rating: 8 out of 10. |
