Robert Deniro Movie:

				Label: MGM Salesrank: 67660
		Our Price: $17.99
		Used Price: $28.99
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Australia released, PAL/Region 2.4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), French ( Mono ), German ( Mono ), Italian ( Mono ), Danish ( Subtitles ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), German ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Uncut, SYNOPSIS: Set in Italy, the film follows the lives and interactions of two boys/men, one born a bastard of peasant stock (Depardieu), the other born to a land owner (de Niro). The drama spans from 1900 to about 1945, and focuses mainly on the rise of Fascism and the peasants' eventual reaction by supporting Communism, and how these events shape the destinies of the two main characters.

Description of 1900 / Novecento [NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - Australia] [Region 4]:
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

1900 / Novecento [NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - Australia] [Region 4] Reviews:
Heavy-handed polemic, but still stunning cinema.
2009-09-14 - I went into this not knowing what to expect (it was listed in "1001 MOVIES YOU MUST SEE BEFORE YOU DIE"), but I was pleasantly surprised I could sit through a five-hour movie without falling asleep. This is the kind of movie film-makers have largely stopped making nowadays. Before the time of frenetic editing, manic jump-cuts, and short attention spans, Bertollucci (like his compatriot Sergio Leonie in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA), knew the art of "taking one's time" to tell a story, but being able to do so in a thoroughly absorbing fashion. Some might call it slow and ponderous; I prefer to use the words "stately" and "sedate". It is this sense of pacing that I liked most about the movie; you just sit back for the long haul, relax, and allow yourself to be drawn into it. I didn't find the characters particularly engaging. But if movies are as much about images, then 1900 has more than enough to merit repeated viewing, aided by its stunning cinematography (now here's one movie I'd love to see on the hi-def blu-ray format). I loved its loving, evocative depictions of the Italian countryside. The whole tenor of the film is a little too tendentious for my taste, its political stance too unsubtle. At times it descends into a risible form of socialist operatic kitsch. But if you can look beyond these annoying elements, you will actually enjoy the film as I did.

Classic? Yes! Masterpiece? No!
2009-02-02 - This Bertolucci classic is often considered to be his masterpiece next to "The Last Emperor". Unfortunately I disagree on both counts especially from a point of view how either movie stood the test of time. "1900" comes across as quite dated and it's got nothing to do with the fact it was made so long ago, which is proven by looking at what I consider to be the true masterpiece of Bertolucci "The Conformist" which was made even earlier than "1900".
"1900" tells a story concerning Italy's history during the first half (mostly) of the 20th century. It is a story of political violence and class struggle, which perhaps is one of the elements that make the movie dated, but naturally it was a crucial aspect to the period that the movie is set in, a part of daily life as natural as breathing.

The two main protagonists are of course from opposite social classes, landowner vs. farm laborer, Robert de Niro (Alfredo) vs. Gerard Depardieu (Olmo). The two share a close friendship dating back to early childhood, but their class differences will always play a part, especially since the rise of fascism which finds the two young men at either side of the fence of oppressor (i.e. collaborator) vs. resistance fighter which brings tensions between them to a head. Although recompense is unavoidable after the war, their friendship survives.

"1900" is a long epic and brings the colors and scents of the Italian soil to its audience through its story divided over the four seasons of nature and life, beautifully photographed. The political aspect was very prominent on Bertolucci's mind when he made the movie, even hoping the movie would prompt a new revolutionary spirit to be awakened in the viewers all over the world. Looking at the movie with some historical distance, one cannot help but feel that the workers' communist slogans cannot be swallowed at face value, causing the movie to lose some of its relevance.

What is left is a movie about friendship with many highs and lows, which, stripped from all ideological rhetoric, is the one thing that counts and survives.

The acting in the movie, except the horrific character played by Donald Sutherland, is very bland, but this is mainly due to the script, which very much simplifies the two friends and with very little depth, even though the events that occur are very dramatic. This is one of the strange aspects of the movie: The plot is dramatic, epic, visually the movie is a first rate work of art, but the characters have been put together with very rough clay and not likely to move the audience. It's a movie certainly worthy of admiration, but it's lacking in human compassion, probably stemming from fears to become overly sentimental, but Bertolucci never seems to strike the right balance.

In general this seems to be a problem with most of his movies, that the characters living in them seem so 'made up', not flesh and blood, as if the artist never quite understood that a healthy distance to his subjects indeed may be healthy, but he still needs to imbue them with the breath of life to have them escape from the two-dimensional reality on the silver screen, so they can continue their journey in the hearts of the audience.

"1900" certainly is a beautiful and fascinating movie, but it lacks both emotional as well as historical relevance to compare it favorably to a movie like "La Meglio Gioventu" (transl. The Best of Youth) even though both movies together give a nice overview of Italian history of the 20th century, as they quite complement one another. The difference is that in "1900" ideology is the main driving force, making the human drama secondary by creating two rather socialist textbook puppets with little life of their own while in "The Best of Youth" it's the human individual drama that's central as the director of that movie realized that by looking at the individual you can better feel and picture the whole and in that sense the latter movie to me is far superior.

Very Interesting Movie
2009-01-03 - Where does one start? First, it's incredible to see all the stars in this movie when they were young and 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 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.

Movie greats
2008-12-27 - 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.

WAY too Long
2008-10-25 - 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.