Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2009-11-09 21:04:00 |
|
The Best of Youth
Italian masterpiece The Best of Youth, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, tells the story of the Carati family and their friends, as they go through nearly four decades, starting from 1965. Through the story of the family members, we also come to know of bits and pieces of modern Italian history and its social and cultural implications. The theme has all the necessary ingredients for making a typical soap mega-serial; But its sensitive portrayals of characters and incidents, wonderful performances, and a brilliant background score take the film to a different level, and make it a memorable and moving viewing experience.
The movie is six hours long, divided into two parts. This gives enough time for us to get to know the characters very well, and empathize with them as they go through various situations in life. We see them ageing - It is not shown through a bit of very superficial makeup or wigs; We could even observe the gradual diminishing of the strength of light in their eyes. Portrayals of the effects of passage of time always have an inherent ability to move our minds, and the director has made use of that effectively. There are ambiguities and unanswered questions - For example, it is not clear why Matteo enforced on himself a rather solitary existence, in spite of having loving parents and siblings. But these kind of points make the film look real, as real life itself is full of such paradoxes and contradictions.
Italian masterpiece The Best of Youth, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, tells the story of the Carati family and their friends, as they go through nearly four decades, starting from 1965. Through the story of the family members, we also come to know of bits and pieces of modern Italian history and its social and cultural implications. The theme has all the necessary ingredients for making a typical soap mega-serial; But its sensitive portrayals of characters and incidents, wonderful performances, and a brilliant background score take the film to a different level, and make it a memorable and moving viewing experience.
The movie is six hours long, divided into two parts. This gives enough time for us to get to know the characters very well, and empathize with them as they go through various situations in life. We see them ageing - It is not shown through a bit of very superficial makeup or wigs; We could even observe the gradual diminishing of the strength of light in their eyes. Portrayals of the effects of passage of time always have an inherent ability to move our minds, and the director has made use of that effectively. There are ambiguities and unanswered questions - For example, it is not clear why Matteo enforced on himself a rather solitary existence, in spite of having loving parents and siblings. But these kind of points make the film look real, as real life itself is full of such paradoxes and contradictions.
