Here it is, finally after over thirty years of wait, 1900 (Novecento) is out on DVD for those who never got to see the full uncut version (which were most Americans, particularly those who didn't see it on VHS years ago), and it's happy to report that the picture comes in a small variety of language/subtitle options. While one wouldn't want this to be simply a report on the condition of the DVD- albeit there's an interesting interview with Bernardo Bertolucci on the 2nd disc- it would be important to note how one might feel about switching back and forth and/or committing to watching the picture in a particular language. This isn't a Leone western, after all, where it's not too horrible to watch it in simple English all the way through for its crucial American stars. There's American actors, as well as a few others, who speak English, and then a host of hundreds of extras and supporting players speaking the native tongue. In short advice, stick mostly with English (it is people like De Niro, Sutherland, Depardieu and Lancaster here after all), but for those little moments like with the children in the first quarter, try some of the Italian portions for realism sake.
Because this is, indeed, such an ambitious work, such a passion project, such a work by a director running strong off the steam of his previous successes (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris), a work including people from all over Europe and the States, and according to the director with the original- and later admitted naive- intention of the picture being a "bridge" between the US and Russia, that it's easy to say it is a big waste. It is a huge film, covering a story that includes multiple human dimensions, character arcs, and a political canvas that is explicitly Marxist at the least in iconography if not in message. It got lauded in the US even at its *abbreviated* four hour running time, and has only recently been rediscovered. But then again it will either seem a success artistically or a mess, or maybe both depending on how much a viewer can take of Bertolucci's pirouetting camera movements and the occasional jarring scene transition.
It covers, essentially, a tale of friendship, which to me is a strength in conventional wisdom: the two sides of the coin on a farm in the first half of the 20th century, as Alfredo (as an adult De Niro) and Olmo (as an adult Depardieu) become close friends after sharing the same birthday, but lead different paths as the former is the inheritor of the land turned quasi fascist and the latter is a worker-cum-socialist. Bertolucci enriches the saga with relationships with women, one severed with Olmo and the other a very jagged tale with Dominique Sanda as moody Ada, and with a vicious villain with the ultimate fascist Attilla (get it?) played by Sutherland. For all of the pieces of the story that bulk up the picture to its current length, for the most part all of the sections are important in building up who our two 'sides' are, and how certain personal events (i.e. Lancaster and Haydens' respective deaths, the theft of a gun, the pressures with violence and their unspoken destinies) shape them as much if not more than the state of politics.
It's so rich and alive and engrossing a story, with moments that intrigue and question and actually shock (a certain scene with a cat and Sutherland had me cringe, and another with a boy had my mouth drop), that it's a shame to report it's not the pinnacle of Bertolucci's career. It is probably too long, by how much I can't definitively say; it isn't acted all around greatly (Sanda, for example, has no place being among the likes of De Niro and Sutherland and Depardieu who all deliver real top shelf work here, particularly De Niro as his mid-point between Corleone and Bickle); and as mentioned some scenes transition a little suddenly, like with a key turning point scene at a wedding that goes on to a pig killing some undetermined time later.
And yet all of these flaws are somewhat minuscule in the grandiosity of the film as a whole. It's full of tremendous cinematography by given virtuoso Vittorio Storaro, it's got that classic score by Ennio Morricone that reminds us he didn't just score gun fights, and its so frank in how it expresses its mix of sex, violence and politics that it blends the line between melodrama and realism to an unbelievable T. There's even a kind of double (or even triple) climax that goes from invigorating to bittersweet and finally really, really strange. It's ultimately the work of a filmmaker who actually used momentary carte blanche to his advantage and carved out his own piece of history. Whether or not it connected with everyone is another matter. Grade: A
Because this is, indeed, such an ambitious work, such a passion project, such a work by a director running strong off the steam of his previous successes (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris), a work including people from all over Europe and the States, and according to the director with the original- and later admitted naive- intention of the picture being a "bridge" between the US and Russia, that it's easy to say it is a big waste. It is a huge film, covering a story that includes multiple human dimensions, character arcs, and a political canvas that is explicitly Marxist at the least in iconography if not in message. It got lauded in the US even at its *abbreviated* four hour running time, and has only recently been rediscovered. But then again it will either seem a success artistically or a mess, or maybe both depending on how much a viewer can take of Bertolucci's pirouetting camera movements and the occasional jarring scene transition.
It covers, essentially, a tale of friendship, which to me is a strength in conventional wisdom: the two sides of the coin on a farm in the first half of the 20th century, as Alfredo (as an adult De Niro) and Olmo (as an adult Depardieu) become close friends after sharing the same birthday, but lead different paths as the former is the inheritor of the land turned quasi fascist and the latter is a worker-cum-socialist. Bertolucci enriches the saga with relationships with women, one severed with Olmo and the other a very jagged tale with Dominique Sanda as moody Ada, and with a vicious villain with the ultimate fascist Attilla (get it?) played by Sutherland. For all of the pieces of the story that bulk up the picture to its current length, for the most part all of the sections are important in building up who our two 'sides' are, and how certain personal events (i.e. Lancaster and Haydens' respective deaths, the theft of a gun, the pressures with violence and their unspoken destinies) shape them as much if not more than the state of politics.
It's so rich and alive and engrossing a story, with moments that intrigue and question and actually shock (a certain scene with a cat and Sutherland had me cringe, and another with a boy had my mouth drop), that it's a shame to report it's not the pinnacle of Bertolucci's career. It is probably too long, by how much I can't definitively say; it isn't acted all around greatly (Sanda, for example, has no place being among the likes of De Niro and Sutherland and Depardieu who all deliver real top shelf work here, particularly De Niro as his mid-point between Corleone and Bickle); and as mentioned some scenes transition a little suddenly, like with a key turning point scene at a wedding that goes on to a pig killing some undetermined time later.
And yet all of these flaws are somewhat minuscule in the grandiosity of the film as a whole. It's full of tremendous cinematography by given virtuoso Vittorio Storaro, it's got that classic score by Ennio Morricone that reminds us he didn't just score gun fights, and its so frank in how it expresses its mix of sex, violence and politics that it blends the line between melodrama and realism to an unbelievable T. There's even a kind of double (or even triple) climax that goes from invigorating to bittersweet and finally really, really strange. It's ultimately the work of a filmmaker who actually used momentary carte blanche to his advantage and carved out his own piece of history. Whether or not it connected with everyone is another matter. Grade: A