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Today I watched Daniele Luchetti's latest film: "My Brother is an Only Child". I highly recommend it!
A title à la Rinogaetano, king of denouncements and assorted jibes, which immediately sets the path that the story will take. It all begins in Latina in the year '62 and spans at least two decades from '68 and the Brigatista period. Very loosely, very loosely adapted from the book by Antonio Pennacchi "IL FASCIOCOMUNISTA" published by Mondadori. I know the author has a legal dispute with the director for the excessive licenses taken.
The film narrates the story of two brothers, children of proletarians, who embrace opposing ideologies; Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) on the left and Accio (Elio Germano) on the right in a compelling intertwine that spans crucial years. Scamarcio's beauty shines through the screen; however, the Andria-born actor has made significant progress in acting, but the Molise native Germano, although less handsome, is excessively talented. Amidst the scuffles between the siblings who fight intensely, the educational paths of the two young men are analyzed. The most troubled is Accio-Germano, first a seminarian and then a fascist at the school of a splendid Mario (Luca Zingaretti) in a superlative performance. Note the charm and physiognomic identity of the young Accio (played by Vittorio Emanuele Propizio) with the adult actor. "We were raised the old-fashioned way with punches and slaps" Accio argues to highlight what the times and educational methods were like before '68 in the Italian province.
Between five hundred, six hundred and "Riderà" by Little Tony, the years pass and the political divisions become increasingly bitter and violent. Realistic and thrilling is the long scene of the occupied conservatory where Manrico-Scamarcio and his comrades decide to de-fascistize Beethoven by playing an "Ode to Joy" with lyrics from "proletarians of the world unite". Even Manrico-Scamarcio's woman becomes a point of contention between the brothers because Accio-Germano likes her too. Francesca is the talented and beautiful Diane Flery. Various plot twists that I won't reveal to you (otherwise what's the fun of going to the cinema) a palpable tension and the undiminished pathos, make this film a work that deserves to be absolutely seen. Beautiful is the scene of the housing occupation with a parade reminiscent of Pelizza da Volpedo. A child will be born and someone now involved with extremist groups during the years of lead will be killed in a shootout with the police. Someone else will change their ideology, and someone will be betrayed and die from it. You discover it. Everything ends with the clear guitar of Fausto Mesolella (Avion Travel) accompanying the expressive voice of Nada "An angel fallen from the sky... It's losing, it's looosing, it's loooosing! It's calling, it's calling, it's caaalling"!
Kisses, punches, hugs, struggles and claims, exacerbated ideologies, beautiful eyes and the Italian province, the little song, the raised fist and the fascist salute, workers and bourgeois, Marx and the trip to Predappio, friendship and simple values, material wealth and mere consumerist possession yet to come to pollute our decadent times. A doubt lingers beneath the surface, but not too much: perhaps people were more genuine and were better off when things were worse?
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