Starring: Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, and Donald Sutherland
Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
In 1900, director Bernardo Bertolucci throws in so many performers, details and plotlines into the mix that sometimes the film becomes nearly incomprehensible. But with this mish-mash of elements comes a richness and tapestry-like quality you don't often find in films.
By contrasting the life stories of two boys born on the say day into two very different existences (one is the only son of a wealthy landowner, the other the illegitimate son of a peasant), Bertolucci scrutinizes such issues as politics, class struggle and friendship itself. Once the two boys grow up, Robert De Niro plays the landowner, Gerard Depardieu the peasant who grows up to become a leader in the turbulant political scene that dominates Italian life at that time in history. A multitude of performers, many of them big name stars, appear and dissapear throughout the film. Donald Sutherland is the Fascist who's so evil he's sometimes unintentionally comical, the deep-voiced Dominique Sanda is De Niro's fragile, beautiful wife and gives my favorite performance of the film (it's no small feat to make an alcoholic and drug user both charming and tragic at the same time). Also appearing are Alida Valli, Burt Lancaster, Sterling Hayden, and Laura Betti in various stages of the movie.
Vittorio Storaro gives 1900 a slightly hazy, almost dream-like look to the film- fully utilizing the grand interiors and picturesque countryside where most of the action takes place; revered Italian film composer Ennio Morricone provides the effective score.
The problem with 1900 is that it just ends up being too much. It's a very uneven film- there are many fantastic moments scattered throughout, but there's a lot of 'down time' you have to wade through to get to them. With a four hour plus running time, 1900 is already a behemoth of a film, but there's a longer cut available, commonly known as the 'European version' that runs nearly 5 1/2 hours long. The additional running time apparently evens out the pace and develops and clarifies many things that seems either rushed or mangled in the movie (I've been told that in fact the longer version seems shorter simply because it's easier to follow).
Sadly, neither version of the film has made its way to DVD at this time. Fans of the film hope when it finally does get released (which is rumored occasionaly), it'll be the longer European version, featuring a print restored to a pristine state. The chance of seeing some of the images of this film, the rejoicing peasants dancing under the giant red flag, Sanda's gallop through the mist and the numerous candle-lit interior scenes, in the best conditions possible makes one hope that we wont have to wait long for it.
(Color, In Italian and dubbed into English)
-July 31, 2003
