Length: 175 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Luchino Visconti had a strong influence on Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese, and if you enjoy the work of these two Italian-American filmmakers, then I think you’re going to love Visconti’s 1960 Italian-language movie "Rocco and His Brothers." Set in 1950s Milan, "Rocco" uses realistic settings and an operatic style to tell a tale of changing times, family ties, conflicting moral codes, human weaknesses, jealousy, rape, and murder. I was spellbound when I watched this film on the Image Entertainment DVD, and although the DVD offers no special features or bonus materials, I highly recommend it anyway because the movie itself is so wonderful and the picture and sound quality are terrific.

In the film’s memorable opening, the widow Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou) and four of her sons arrive in Milan. They are a rural family that has been driven by economic hard times from their home in the south to the industrialized north. There they join Rosaria’s fifth and oldest son Vincenzo, who has preceded them to Milan. But Vincenzo has already become engaged to a woman whose parents Rosaria doesn’t get along with, and he is able to be of only limited help to his mother and brothers. And even though the Parondi brothers take any work they can get, their jobs pay poorly, and the family barely ekes out a living in shabby, cramped apartments.

Rosaria’s burly second son Simone (Renato Salvatori) tries his hand at boxing, but he lacks the self-discipline to train hard and the willpower to defeat tough opponents. He has a brief romantic involvement with a pretty prostitute named Nadia (Annie Girardot), but she quickly breaks it off. Fourteen months after that break, Rocco (Alain Delon), who is Rosaria’s third son, begins a romantic relationship with Nadia. When the brutish Simone learns what has happened, he rapes Nadia while Rocco, held by Simone’s buddies, looks on.

Although Rocco and Nadia are in love with each other, the dutiful Rocco breaks off the relationship and tells her she must return to Simone because he needs her. But Simone’s life goes into a downward spiral, and when he runs up big debts, Rocco reluctantly accepts that for the sake of the family he must pursue a professional boxing career. Rocco eventually achieves success in the ring, but by that time a murder has been committed that gives rise to events preventing the family from ever again being completely unified.

Rosaria’s fourth son Ciro attends night school, gets a good job at Alfa Romeo, finds a girlfriend of his own, and gives up on following the family’s traditional code of behavior. As for Luca, Rosaria’s fifth son, he is so young that he doesn’t remember much about how things were before he came to Milan, but there is still hope that he may one day have a better life because his family left its ancestral home in the south.

Visconti’s genius in "Rocco and His Brothers" is that he was able to draw a portrait of particular people in a specific time and place, yet they are universally recognizable. I don’t believe Visconti was trying to send any single message in this movie, but surely one of his major themes is that change is inevitable, but it’s not easy. In any case, "Rocco and His Brothers" is a richly textured drama that I find to be both moving and resonant.

Note: This DVD provides no special features.