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By
DEBORAH NICOL
Consider the Roman god
Janus: one body with two faces looking in opposite
directions, often portraying juxtaposing
transitions of youth to adulthood. Director Marco
Tullio Giordana creates an intriguing Janus-head
through the close yet strikingly different
brothers Nicola and Matteo in his grand family
epic, "The Best of Youth." Though they are
connected in body, their lives could not be any
more divergent.
Do not be afraid of the six-plus hour runtime of
this Italian miniseries – it is best digested in
one delicious sitting. As the viewer becomes
absorbed into the film, the years pass as though
through memories. There are no gaping information
holes as with other films spanning four decades –
no hunger left to be satisfied by the end. Years
and locations are noted on screen, but rather than
jarring they are merely notes in a photo album.
This is not to say that this a movie of postcards,
but rather of rich events to be valued and passed
on to the next generation of the Carati family.
Brother Nicola (the subtly dramatic and engaging
Luigi Lo Cascio) takes life in stride. If life
hands him lemons, he not only makes lemonade but
insures that the citrus growers were given a fair
shake in the whole operation. As he brings peace
to others, he surrounds himself with pleasant
environments. His brother Matteo (the dynamic
Alessio Boni), however, does not view a wrongful
situation as a challenge to correct, but rather as
an aggravation symbolizing the injustices of the
world. Though his family and acquaintances provide
him with love, he has difficulty seeing beyond any
immediate problems to a satisfying resolution.
The brothers are introduced to the audience in
their summer of 1966, heading out on the road with
friends to meet girls and explore the world before
they begin their careers. Their plans are
temporarily derailed by a young schizophrenic girl
whose effect on them is resounding. Her presence
in their lives reveals a schism not unlike the
disease in her brain, and the two begin their
distant yet parallel lives apart.
As Nicola experiences the unexpected adventures
the world has to offer, Matteo attempts to control
it through a military lifestyle. When political
rule becomes dissatisfactory, Nicola protests the
system while Matteo enforces it. Ironically during
the struggles, Nicola falls in love with a woman
who carries just as much anger as his brother, and
just as much coldness to a world that is trying so
hard to satisfy her. Though they each have
soothing outlets that allow them to forget their
constant anxiety, they deny themselves of those
pleasures. Through each of these individuals it
would seem that Nicola cannot avoid finding
darkness despite all of his light.
Interwoven around these two intriguing men are
their family and friends, who also grow and love
and marry as family and friends are wont to do.
There are chapters in the story where the overlap
of lives could easily dead-end into an
unbelievable action flick, when all of the loose
ends could tie up through a Deus ex machina. But
there are no loose ends here, only a tattered
ribbon that has constantly been retied until life
decides upon whose package it belongs. That is the
brilliance and beauty of this film – the lives are
rich and expansive, yet the realism allows the
viewer to all but forget she is not listening to a
tale being told for the first time by her
grandfather.
DVD extras are nonexistent, but unnecessary. |
