Rocco e i suoi fratelli, 1960
[Rocco and His Brothers]
Rocco
and His Brothers chronicles the life of the Parondi family
from the perspective of the five brothers as they seek a better life
in the industrial city of Milan: Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), Simone (Renato
Salvatoi), Rocco (Alain Delon), Ciro (Max Cartier), and Luca (Rocco
Vidolazzi). Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou), a proud, possessive
widow, has decided to uproot her family from the rural village of
Lucania in Southern Italy to spare her children from the fruitless
toil of the family farm that consumed her husband's life. The eldest
son, Vincenzo, has been sent ahead in order to arrange housing and
employment for the older children, but he has been distracted from
his familial obligations by his developing relationship with the beautiful
Ginetta (Claudia Cardinale), whose family has hospitably provided
him with food and lodging. The Parondi family unexpectedly arrives
at Vincenzo and Ginetta's engagement party, and Rosaria quickly antagonizes
Ginetta's family by presumptuously invoking Vincenzo' s duties to
the Parondi family over Ginetta's happiness. Driven away from Ginetta's
family home, a friend advises Vincenzo to follow in the footsteps
of other Southern migrants: to rent a room for the family until the
money runs out, and allow themselves to be evicted in order to qualify
for council housing. Unable to find proper employment, the older brothers
accept odd jobs to make ends meet. Simone is recruited by a renowned
boxing trainer who believes that he demonstrates potential as a prize
fighter, and finds early success in the boxing ring. However, his
focus is tested when he meets wanton, emotionally unavailable woman
named Nadia (Annie Girardot), and becomes obsessed with her. Rocco
finds work in a laundromat, where his shyness and gentle demeanor
has endeared him to the proprietress. However, his employment is jeopardized
when Simone exploits Rocco's trustworthiness in order to steal from
the proprietress and impress Nadia. Ciro resumes his studies in order
to become an auto mechanic, and has isolated himself from the affairs
of his brothers. Despite the Parondi family's adjustment to their
new life in the city, Rocco continues to hold out hope of someday
returning to their beloved village. However, as Simone's decadent
and self-destructive lifestyle continues to erode the family's happiness
and unity, Rocco's idealistic dream proves to be increasingly distant.
Luchino Visconti
provides a visually adept, insightful, and harshly realistic social
commentary in Rocco and His Brothers.
Using perspective shifts among members of the Parondi family, Visconti
symbolizes the passing of the elusive, unattainable dream: Rosaria's
wish for a reunited family; Vincenzo's struggle to distance himself
from his manipulative mother; Simone's continued attempts to reconcile
with the inaccessible Nadia; Rocco's dreams of returning to Lucania;
Ciro's desire to assimilate with the modern, industrialized culture
of Milan. Inevitably, the personal pursuit of dreams proves to be
the unraveling of the family's unity, as individual needs conflict
with familial responsibility. As the saintly Rocco misguidedly sacrifices
his own happiness to save the undisciplined Simone, he finds himself
sinking further into moral complicity and unredeemable guilt. The
final scene shows young Luca visiting Ciro at the assembly plant.
It is a realization of his own hopes apart from his mother's wishes
- a resigned acceptance that the Parondi dream and bond of family
are forever lost.
© Acquarello 2001. All rights reserved.
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On
the idyllic Sicilian fishing village of Acitrezza, generations of
the Valestro family have upheld the traditional vocation and simple
existence of their ancestors, despite economic hardship and personal
tragedy. The men (and even boys) earn their subsistence as hired fishermen
for wealthy, opportunistic wholesale merchants who collude with rival
merchants to depreciate the market prices of the villagers' daily
catch for sale to the neighboring town of Catania. Each day, the Valestro
women, Mara and Lucia, maintain the household and anxiously await
the return of the men from sea, helplessly aware of the dangers and
natural catastrophes that could befall the family on any unassuming
day. The elder sister Mara is in love with a poor young construction
worker named Nicola, but economic circumstances and her family's inability
to provide a dowry prevent them from marrying. The eldest brother
Antonio realizes that any hope for prosperity resides in the town's
collective resistance from the exploitation of the wholesalers. Rallying
the discontented and more vocal younger fishermen, the men unsuccessfully
attempt to bargain with the wholesalers, and a public disturbance
ensues. Antonio is among the young men arrested by the police, but
the criminal charges are inevitably dismissed after the wholesalers
use their influence to prevent prosecution upon realizing that all
of the able-bodied fishermen in the village had been arrested, and
have now destabilized their own profitable commerce. The experience
further galvanizes Antonio's determination to gain independence from
the unscrupulous wholesalers. He convinces the family to circumvent
the wholesalers by processing the fish themselves for sale directly
to Catania, using proceeds from the mortgage of the house as collateral.
However, as the Valestro family turn their back on the traditional
means of commerce by the local fishermen, they risk not only losing
the family home, but also their solidarity with the village who rely
on the wholesalers for economic survival.