Rocco and His Brothers


Rocco and His Brothers is a 1960 Italian film directed by Luchino Visconti, inspired by an episode from the novel Il ponte della Ghisolfa by Giovanni Testori. Set in Milan, it tells the story of an immigrant family from the South and its disintegration in the society of the industrial North. The title is a combination of Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers and the name of Rocco Scotellaro, an Italian poet who described the feelings of the peasants of southern Italy.
The film stars Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, and Claudia Cardinale in one of her early roles before she became internationally known. The score was composed by Nino Rota.

Plot

After the death of his father, Rocco Parondi, one of the five sons of a poor rural Italian family, travels north from Lucania to join his older brother Vincenzo in Milan, led by the matriarch Rosaria. She is the "hand to which the five fingers belong" as she states in the film and she has a powerful influence on her sons. Presented in five distinct sections, the film weaves the story of the five brothers Vincenzo, Simone, Rocco, Ciro and Luca Parondi as each of them adapts to his new life in the city.
Vincenzo, the eldest brother, is already living in Milan when his mother and brothers come to join him expecting to move in with him. An initial scene ensues between the Parondi family and Vincenzo's fiancée Ginetta's family, and the whole Parondi family moves in together. Despite early friction between Rosaria and Ginetta, he soon gets married and starts a family of his own. After settling down, Vincenzo doesn't interact much with the Parondi brothers.
Simone, the second brother, struggles to adapt to urban life. He becomes attracted to a prostitute named Nadia, who urges him to pursue a career in boxing as a fast way to reach fame and wealth, which his mother also encourages. After initially pursuing Vincenzo only to find him happy in his new family life, Nadia turns her interest to Simone. Simone falls in love with Nadia and demands for more than a casual relationship, but she rejects him.
Rocco, the third brother, leaves to complete military service in Turin and meets Nadia, who has just been released from jail for prostitution charges. His innocence and purity of heart ignites her to give up her old life style and enter an exclusive relationship with him. When Simone learns of this, he attacks Nadia and Rocco with a gang of friends and rapes Nadia to "teach Rocco a lesson". Rocco subsequently sacrifices his relationship with Nadia, telling her that he did not realize how much their relationship hurt his brother. Rocco insists that Nadia return to Simone, and she reluctantly complies.
Ciro, the second-youngest brother, perhaps by observing the trials of Simone and Rocco, decides to learn from their mistakes and mimic his brother Vincenzo. To that end, Ciro becomes engaged to a local woman from a good family and finds steady work in Milan at an automobile factory. Unlike Vincenzo, Ciro still lives with his mother and participates in family matters.
Somewhat in the manner of Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin character, Rocco often acts to preserve the well-being of family members at some cost to his own happiness. He continues a boxing career he does not enjoy to provide for his family and covers for Simone in a myriad of ways, such as recovering an expensive brooch that Simone had stolen from Rocco's boss and agreeing to sign a long term boxing contract in order to pay back money that Simone has stolen. Ultimately, Simone loses the ability to compete as a boxer because of his obsession with Nadia, his alcoholism, and dissolute lifestyle. While Rocco fights and wins a championship bout, Simone kills Nadia in a jealous rage when she returns to prostitution and refuses to return to him.
As the family celebrates Rocco's victory, he shares an anecdote about stonemasons who, at the start of any building project, throw a stone into the shadow of a passerby in order to symbolize the sacrifice that is needed to erect a structure. Rocco's own habit of sacrificing his money and well-being can be likewise analogized as attempts to preserve his family after their upheaval from country life. Simone arrives at the apartment and confesses to Nadia's murder. Despite his anguish, Rocco tries to protect Simone, but Ciro refuses to go along and turns Simone in to the police. The youngest brother Luca does little but watch quietly in the background during much of the movie. Despite the fact that Luca had spent the least time in Southern Italy when the family moved to Milan, by the end of the film he wants to return with Rocco to the south. In one of the last scenes, Ciro speaks to Luca outside his factory and tells him that the south will not be the same if he returns, and that while many people fear a changing world, Ciro does not and he believes that Luca will benefit from the changes.

Cast

During the spring of 1960, the original plan to shoot the murder scene at the end of the film in a large recreational area in Idroscalo was refused by civil servants of the provincial administration. This was due to an "inopportune resemblance to reality" of the scene to be shot to the recent murder of a young prostitute in the area. The film was later seized by police officers and lawyers after Cardinal Tardini's request that officials take action against "certain destructive films". They demanded that four scenes be cut or the film would be confiscated and the producer prosecuted; however, after negotiations, Lombardo agreed to darken the critical scenes within the film with filters; two of these darkened scenes were omitted entirely.

Reception

Box office

The film was the 27th most popular film of the year in France.
It sold 10 220 365 tickets in Italy. http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=9412

Critical response

The film critic for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther, gave the film a positive review and appreciated the direction of the film and acting. He wrote "A fine Italian film to stand alongside the American classic, The Grapes of Wrath, opened last night...It is Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers, and it comes here garlanded with laurels that are quite as appropriate in this context as they are richly deserved...Signor Visconti has clearly conceived his film and that is what his brilliant handling of events and characters makes one feel. There's a blending of strong emotionalism and realism to such an extent that the margins of each become fuzzy and indistinguishable...Alain Delon as the sweet and loyal Rocco...is touchingly pliant and expressive, but it is Renato Salvatori...who fills the screen with the anguish of a tortured and stricken character. His raw and restless performance is overpowering and unforgettable... French actress Annie Girardot is likewise striking as the piteous prostitute..."
The staff at Variety lauded the drama, and wrote "With all its faults, this is one of the top achievements of the year in Italy...Scripting shows numerous hands at work, yet all is pulled together by Visconti's dynamic and generally tasteful direction. Occasionally, as in the near-final revelation to the family of Simone's crime, the action gets out of hand and comes close to melodrama. Yet the impact of the main story line, aided by the sensitive, expertly guided playing of Alain Delon as Rocco, Annie Girardot as the prostitute, and Renato Salvatori as Simone, is great. Katina Paxinou at times is perfect, at others she is allowed to act too theatrically and off-key."
When the film was released in DVD format, critic Glenn Erickson wrote "A major pleasure of Rocco and his Brothers is simply seeing its portrait of life in working-class Milan in 1960. Beautifully directed in the housing projects and streets of the city, this is a prime example of a film which will accrue historical interest simply because it shows so much of how people lived and what places looked like 40 years ago."
In 2008, Roger Ebert added Rocco and His Brothers to his Great Movies list.

Awards

; Awards
; Nominations