I saw Mio fratello è figlio unico or, in English, My Brother Is An Only Child. [Before you wonder, no, I don’t really speak Italian, my holiday stuttering really is not good enough to watch a movie in Italian. I saw it in German.]
It’s the story of two brothers in the 60s/70s, the older one a communist, the younger one a fascist. But their differences don’t stop there.
Manrico, the communist, is a ladies’ man (and Riccardo Scamarcio definitely looks the part…), he’s wild, unreliable, charming and never really lets anybody close.
Accio (Elio Germano), on the other hand, is shy, hot-tempered, loves Latin, has a strong sense of right and wrong and always wears his heart on his fingertips.
They live together with their parents and their sister in a small, crumbling flat in Latina. They fight a lot, but in the end, they get along. Then one day, Francesca shows up, Manrico’s newest girlfriend and also a communist, and Accio falls in love with her…
The film follows the family throughout 2 decades, shows their ups and downs, their struggle for survival and for meaning.
It’s a wonderful film. Extremely well acted with an engaging story. It has an end, which surprises and leaves room for your own interpretation (a beautiful ending, by the way) and it doesn’t “sell” you any morale.
Although it gets long sometimes, it never gets boring, and I can definitely recommend it.
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Sounds good. Will check it out.
Please do. And then let me know what you thought about it :)
Sounds a bit like one of the sub-plot lines in Isabelle Allende’s “House of Spirits” (although yeah, that was South America and this is Italy… but still full of Communists!) Intrigued now! We’ll just have to hope it comes out down here!
God,it’s ben ages since I saw that movie and I never read the book, I can’t remember that part… I think I borrowed the book from my mother, maybe I’ll get to read it this summer…
Awesome! I watched this just last week at a cinema nearby. Been meaning to write about it….but haven’t been getting the time. Loved it.
You should also check out Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Best of Youth.
I’ve read that the two were compared a lot. Will try to get a hold of it.