Amazon.com Essentials:
This is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's
adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had
hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to
four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well,
choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at
all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning
story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives
that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the
aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants
(Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate,
until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist
politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both
leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda,
and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid
fans. --Marshall Fine
