Rocco and His Brothers

A mother and her five sons migrate from southern Italy to Milan. The city gives them work and dismantles whatever held the family together. The distance between the gentle Rocco and Simone, who slides into drink and crime, turns into catastrophe around a woman named Nadia. Luchino Visconti directed this Italian-French co-production. Alain Delon plays Rocco, Renato Salvatori plays Simone and Annie Girardot plays Nadia. The production ran into obstruction. Provincial officials refused permits at several locations once they learned what the murder scene contained. In post-production the family name was changed from Pafundi to Parondi after a legal threat from a local judge. The censorship went further. In October 1960 the Italian authorities seized the negative and demanded cuts to four violent scenes. Visconti was not consulted; producer Goffredo Lombardo agreed to darken them with filters rather than remove them. The first Italian reviews were cold. It won the Special Jury Prize at Venice and its international standing settled over the years. It is now counted among the masterworks of Italian cinema and is acknowledged as an influence on directors including Francis Ford Coppola. Who it is for: viewers who like family epics and are curious about neorealism turning into melodrama. Who it is not for: anyone unprepared for three hours and two scenes of heavy violence. The film does not hide its cruelty.