Cheap Rocco and His Brothers (DVD) (Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Claudia Cardinale) (Luchino Visconti) Price

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Customer Reviews of Rocco and His Brothers

Nice try
"Rocco and his Brothers" is one of Visconti's most famous films, yet it seems to fall flat. Four brothers and their mother journey to northern Italy to join their brother Vincenzo. While there, one amazing even after another occurs to test the bonds of the family.
The film is divided into five sections, one for each of the brothers yet the film really centers around Rocco and Simone. Simone plays the stereotypical bad boy. He comes to the north and begins to see a prostitute and to steal. His criminal impulses lead him to rape his ex-girlfriend (who at the time is dating Rocco) which seems completely out of character. Yes he has a bad streak but the scene seems contrived. He rapes the girl to hurt noth her and Rocco and then proceeds to punch Rocco to the point of unconsciousness. Up until this point he seems more of a rebel and than suddenly he turns into a hard-core criminal. Rocco's character isn't much better. He is depicted in a saintly matter and while this is purposeful, he saintliness is so extreme that one gets aggravated with the character. He constantly forgives Simone and constantly "turns his other cheek". In short, all the character are extremely stereotyped and are manipulated to fit the script instead of being believable. Visconti just tries to cram too much into one film and in doing so loses track of his characters.

The only thing that saves the film in any way is the acting. The two main brothers, Simone and Rocco, and Nadia are all played remarkabley well inspite of the despicable script. Annie Girardot who plays Nadia puts in the best performance and makes the viewer wonder if she is the only sane person in all of Italy.

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A very complex movie; hard to describe or rate
"Rocco and His Brothers" is certainly a grand movie. The acting is simply superb, especially that of Annie Girardot - her character is passionate, erotic and strong, exactly the kind of woman who can rouse such fatal feelings and change fates even though she's a prostitute.

I especially admire Visconti for being able to create such an accurate and vivid portrait of Italians. I could never understand their passions, their love-hate relationships, their family ties, honesty and betrayal being so close together. Which comes first - family or justness? In short, I don't think I'll ever be able to understand the way they lead their lives and their strange outlook on life. To an ordinary viewer, like me, most of the characters, ESPECIALLY Rocco, seem to be insane...

You'd probably like to know why I didn't give this truly unforgettable movie 5 stars. The answer is simple: it was difficult to watch. Painful almost. I found myself wishing I could kill one of the main characters more than half a time. There was no relief of tension. The movie was quite long. And - I simply cannot understand the way Italians live and treat each other. It's beyond me.

I'm glad I saw this movie; it had a great impact on me. However, it was so very 'heavy' I won't watch it again for a long time... but I will. Sometime.

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A grand effort
"Rocco and his Brothers" is one of Visconti's most famous films, yet it seems to fall flat. Four brothers and their mother journey to northern Italy to join their brother Vincenzo. While there, one amazing even after another occurs to test the bonds of the family.

The film is divided into five sections, one for each of the brothers yet the film really centers around Rocco and Simone. Simone plays the stereotypical bad boy. He comes to the north and begins to see a prostitute and to steal. His criminal impulses lead him to rape his ex-girlfriend (who at the time is dating Rocco) which seems completely out of character. Yes he has a bad streak but the scene seems contrived. He rapes the girl to hurt noth her and Rocco and then proceeds to punch Rocco to the point of unconsciousness. Up until this point he seems more of a rebel and than suddenly he turns into a hard-core criminal. Rocco's character isn't much better. He is depicted in a saintly matter and while this is purposeful, he saintliness is so extreme that one gets aggravated with the character. He constantly forgives Simone and constantly "turns his other cheek". In short, all the character are extremely stereotyped and are manipulated to fit the script instead of being believable.

The only thing that saves the film in any way is the acting. The two main brothers, Simone and Rocco, and Nadia are all played remarkabley well inspite of the despicable script. Annie Girardot who plays Nadia puts in the best performance and makes the viewer wonder if she is the only sane person in all of Italy.