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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rated by buyers Unrated
Type of bind: DVD
Brand: Paramount
EAN num: 0097360880441
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Quantity: 2
Publishing house: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: December 05, 2006
Running Time: 315 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 6500
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: November 04, 1977
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Description:
Bernardo Bertolucci's massive epic, a history of Italy from 1900 to 1945 as reflected through the friendship of two men across class lines, is one of the most fascinating, if little seen, of his films. After beginning with Robert DeNiro as wealthy landowner Alfredo, and Gerard Depardieu as labor leader Olmo, the film returns to 1900 with the death of composer Giuseppi Verdi and the birth of the two friends. The opposing class interests of their grandfathers, padrone Burt Lancaster, and laborer Sterling Hayden, is quickly established in the enmity between the characters. As they grow, the boys become friends, mystified by the tensions that separate their families. But as time passes and Alfredo assumes the role of padrone, while Olmo works the land, their relationship becomes strained. With the rise of fascism, the director spells out its complicity with business interests, as the diffident Alfredo falls under the spell of a vicious and degraded fascist farm manager played by Donald Su
Amazon.com essential video:
1900 is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well, choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants (Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate, until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid fans. --Marshall Fine
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Rated by buyers 
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Where does one start? First, it's incredible to see all the stars in this movie when they were young and very first starting out. I mean one scene shows Robert DeNiro naked and in bed with Gerard Depardieu and a hooker. They actually show the hooker handling the guys equipment. DeNiro couldn't have been more than 20 when this was filmed. Nudity is not an objection for me although the child nudity was uncomfortable to watch. I was more than uncomfortable with the actual killings of animals shown in all its gory detail as well as hog butchering in all its phases from start to finish. Gross.
Anyway, the great things about this move are very first the actors, second the time period, and place. Italy from 1900 to 1945. If you already didn't know the history of Italy, this movie will give you one small piece of life during that period...through the eyes of the rich and the poor. While the movie is very long....the time moves quickly and you forget how long you've been watching it. If you are sensitive to violence, you will have a hard time with this movie. The murder of a little boy is a bit too graphic both before his killing with his sexual molestation and during his actual death. Donald Southerland was incredible in this movie.
I suppose these are also the reasons that I never knew of this movie before reading about it here on Amazon.com This movie would never be shown in its entirety in America.
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This was a gift for my son-in-law for Christmas. He was surprised to receive it as my daughter went into his wish list on Amazon to select it for me to give to him.
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The essential question (and complaint) I have with Bernardo Bertolucci's "1900" is, "Why is it more than 5 hours in length?". We suffer from too many characters, too many repetitive sequences, and too much gratuitous excess. I am not a proponant of grading everything by its' length but it is, in my opinion, a valid criteria of artistic acheivement. My favorite work of fiction ("The Cypresses Believe in God") is over 1000 pages long yet its' brillance was the way the author was able to personalize the labyrinth that was Spanish politics in the 1930's. Most accounts of the Spanish Civil War merely focus on the major political parties involved in the struggle. The complexity of the subject required a deeper explanation. On the other hand, my favorite TV show ("The Twilight Zone") "jumped the shark" when it expanded from 30 to 60 minutes. The show was a weekly series of morality plays that delivered its' messages clearly and succinctly. The added half hour that it expanded to (with the exception of 2 or 3 episodes) did nothing to enhance the impact and often left us waiting for the show to end. The subject matter of "1900" was expansive (although they couldn't seem to fit in WWII except in acknowledging that it had ended). However, this was more a focus on the political and social structure of the times. Except for an interesting look at the emergance of Mussolini and the Black Shirts (I always thought it was Brown Shirts), nothing much changed except the owners of the estate. Admittedly, the three different generations of owners offerred some added perspective in their handling of the peasants. However, we didn't need another 3 hours of film to get the message. There were a variety of characters that we learned way too much about. The character named "Atilla" (played by Donald Sutherland) is the epitome of evil but we learned that early in the movie and kept getting unnecessary reminders. Think of Robert Mitchum in "Cape Fear" and how several brief sequences told us all we needed to know about his evilness. Compare Lincoln's Gettysburg address to any 5 hour speech by Fidel Castro and you'll get my point.
I gave "1900" 4 stars because there were a number of the excessively numerous sequences that were very well-done. I chose to watch the film in Italian with English subtitles. At times it seemed like all of the audio was dubbed. My guess was that the American actors (including DiNero) spoke their lines in English and had them dubbed in Italian. The acting was pretty good but I would appreciate knowing where Sterling Hayden fit in. This film is definitely for adults only and the politics is left of Socialism. I'd like to return to the subject of the length of this film but that would be over-doing it and somebody should be setting an example.
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I SAW THIS WHEN I WAS 55 YEARS OLD, WITH MY DAUGHTER AGED 30... WE WERE GLUED TO OUR SEATS AND THE 5 PLUS HOURS PASSED AS IF THEY WERE 2 and ONE-HALF. THIS WAS THE FIRST FILM OF BERLINI'S I'D SEEN (NOW THIS WAS 10 YEARS AGO), WHERE I REMEMBERED THE DIRECTOR'S NAME... THE CAST, THE WRITING, THE HISTORY, THE PERFORMANCES, THE RANGE of EMOTION WERE LITERALLY UNBELIEVABLY and INSPIRED AWE IN A FILM, THE LIKES OF WHICH I HAD NOT EXPERIENCED BEFORE...
Rated by buyers -
"We don't want vengeance. We want order first...We are the new crusaders!"
--a patrone' (landowner aristocrat)
I know what you're probably thinking, throwing spitballs at an obscure masterpiece is the equivalent of bullying. Accuse me of having a short attention span, but I thought there were many ways Bertolucci could have tightened up '1900,' his epic about the rise of socialism and fascism in Italy during the last century. There are plenty of haunting scenes to be sure, but at five hours, I can only prescribe a much shorter exposition, which would still have readied us for some solid scenes that condense during the movie's second half.
There's no nitpicking about the performances, though. Robert DeNiro is Alfredo, grandson of a patriarch landowner (Burt Lancaster). He befriends a peasant son of a tenant farmer, Olmo (Gerard Depardieu). As boys they forget their status, although Almo is quick to show Alfredo what a soft sissy he really is. In one of the truly memorable moments, Olmo shows his courage by lying on the train tracks as a train goes rambling by; as a stunned Alfredo merely watches.
The relationship is renewed at certain points, but it's easy to see that the peasants, including Olmo, are required to fight in World War I as Alfredo enjoys the fruits of bribery his wealthy family provides for deferment. (Not entirely different than Vietnam or even today.)
After the "Great War" Italy (as the rest of Europe) is really unsettled. Socialism takes hold of the workers as they learn to strike and seek better conditions and wages. Meanwhile, the dark seeds of fascism start their harvest and could seldom be personified better than by Attila (Donald Southerland), a truly twisted weasel of a character whose treachery is a personified vengeance against both sides of the material fence. Keeping low, he pretends to be sympathetic both to the aristocracy (in the role of a foreman) and as a worker's ally. At his side is Regina (Laura Betti), an Eva Braun in miniature--a truly formidable performance with cackling witchery.
The camera shots contain the sweeping stature of an epic, and there's no doubt about the emotional depth in the middle of the drama, but there's excess as well. Do we need know every detail when getting to know everyone? There's some surface banality in the dialogue in parts that markedly improves, and I guess, especially for the wealthy, maybe this banality is meant to be revealing.
Period messages permeate throughout, too. Alfredo's wife, Ada (Dominique Sanda), is a French aristocrat, and there's decadent cocaine use and prostitution to boot. (I was surprised at the amount of nudity and thought that it took 'til the ault years to find equal time for men and women, but this film proves that's not so. Full frontals by Sanda as well as DeNiro and Depardieu show equanimity. There's over five hours of film folks, so they need to keep everyone awake.)
I also think the talking scenes near the end aren't tightened up well enough. You don't have to deliver Marlon Brando (ala Marc Anthony) speeches, but, well, you get the idea.
`1900' is worth a look, but especially recommended during fall or winter when you're drinking hot beverages and need long viewing stretches to keep you occupied. With start and stop capacity, you could stretch this film out like 'Roots'.
A J.P.'s Pick 3.5 *'s = Good-Very Good
(Short Assessment: Directing Bernardo Bertolucci well done, but long-winded. Editing, definitely an acquired taste. Screenwriting Franco Arcalli w/Bertolucci mixed, but needs improvement. Performances are excellent.)
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