Three
Brothers (Tre Fratelli)
1981
Director: Francesco Rosi
Starring: Charles Vanel, Philippe
Noiret, Michele Placido, Vittorio Mezzogiorno
Nothing
like a death in the family to start out a movie in dreary fashion. Three Brothers, while not actually depressing,
feels like the cinematic equivalent of a sleeping pill. It’s slow, it’s rather dull, and it made me
feel rather woozy and disconnected. Not,
perhaps, its point, but that’s what it did to me.
The
death of their mother calls grown sons Raffaele (Noiret), Nicola (Placido), and
Rocco (Mezzogiorno) from their modern lives to their ancestral home to aid
Donato (Vanel) their elderly father.
Each of them brings their metaphorical baggage as well. Raffaele, a judge, is being targeted with
death threats by terrorists for a case he is considering accepting and it
haunts him. Nicola, a labor organizer,
dreams of better conditions for work but also is tortured by his impending
divorce. Rocco is the head of a school
for juvenile delinquents. Feelings of
grief but also isolation and disillusionment run rampant for everyone.
How
memories and fantasies blend together into the narrative of the film is
probably Three Brothers’ strongest attribute. The death of the mother naturally brings
everyone together but also has them reminisce and reflect and dream for what
they want in the future. The flashbacks
work very well within the context of the story.
They are brief and clear and emphasize a point. The memory of Donato, the father, as he
recalls a day at the beach with his young wife was particularly touching. Later in the story, we have some dream
sequences as the characters turn their thoughts to the future, and these are
equally well done. Raffaele has
nightmares of being shot over his job, Nicola fantasizes of reuniting with his
estranged wife, and Rocco dreams of cleaning up the streets and displaced
youths of Italy. Fitting in well, these
moments were the highlight of the film for me.
I wish there was more of them.
Why
do I wish there was more? Because the
rest of it dull. Oh my god dull. I watched Three Brothers on a day
when I was tired and ill, and I know from my own experience that I have so much
more patience for slow-moving films if I’m tired and less agitated – it’s
easier for me to get lost in the world of the film if my brain is less keyed
up. But still I was unable to get
wrapped up in the world of Three Brothers that day. I understand that the film is trying create
an attitude, a feeling of sadness, of laconic grief, of that depressing realization
that you’re no longer connected to your childhood home, and it does in fact
manage to do this rather well. However,
I found myself struggling to stay awake and struggling even harder to focus on
the film, and I never, NEVER have trouble staying awake for a movie. So take it as you will that this one nearly
put me to sleep. It’s desperately slow
and nothing really happens.
Strike
that – there is one thing that happens over and over and over again. Raffaele and Nicola debate politics in every
other scene. Raffaele the judge is calm
and even-minded, always seeing both sides of the story, while Nicola the union
worker is passionate in his siding with laborers looking for rights. We get a change of pace when Raffaele debates
politics with his old friends down the pub instead of with Nicola. Oh yes, much different. Then back to issues with the politics of
Raffaele’s job. Then back to Raffaele
and Nicola arguing, because I didn’t get enough of that from the first hour of
the film. No, thank you.
The
reason I take issue with this is because of the three brothers in the story, I
am least intrigued by Raffaele and Nicola, so to watch them constantly bicker
was trying. Furthermore, I am not
terrifically interested in politics. I
keep myself informed well enough, but listening to a film tackle Italian
politics of three decades ago is one gigantic snore. No, it was Rocco I was interested in from the
start, Rocco who runs a boys’ school for reform with a sense of sad dignity and
acceptance. And who do we get the
absolute least of? ROCCO. The film is full to the brim of hot-headed
Nicola, constantly yelling and smoking and making speeches. I don’t care.
I don’t care a jot for Nicola.
The film fleshes out Raffaele nicely, making clear that while he
believes strongly in the anti-terrorism cases he’s judging, he’s also fearful
of the growing urban violence that threatens his own life. But Rocco… Rocco gets bupkus. The title of the film ought to be “Two
Brothers,” what with the short shrift that’s given to the neglected bro. But Rocco fascinated me from the
beginning. We get an early focus on him
as we watch him wake up in a small, almost clinical bedroom that is then
revealed to be adjacent to a large boys’ dormitory. We watch him handle the cops with respect,
yet still be protective of his boys. He
returns to his father’s home and has a slow contemplative walk along a country
path followed by a flashback. I was
sold. This was the brother I wanted to
see develop in the film. But then Rocco
practically disappears. After that
point, it’s all – and I do mean ALL – Raffaele and Nicola, Nicola and Raffaele. When Rocco finally gets his own fantasy, it
feels tacked on, as if the director forgot that Rocco was there and realized
they should do something to tie up his plot line. Which made me sad, because I liked him the
most and he was given the least attention.
I
will end by adding that I thought the scenes involving Donato and Nicola’s
young daughter were rather lovely. There
was a sense of coming full circle here.
Nicola may feel himself permanently disconnected from his childhood
home, but there is a sense of hope as we watch little Marta delightedly explore
the farm and bond with Donato. Not
everything was doom and gloom.
Overall,
however, I felt frustrated by this movie.
I wanted more of Rocco, but instead got ridiculously huge portions of Raffaele
and Nicola. The fact that there is no
clear plot – this is definitely more of a character study – meant I was bored
into a bit of a stupor. I get the
languid emotions, the sense of sadness and loss; I felt them but only
superficially. There is good stuff in Three
Brothers, but not enough.
Arbitrary
Rating: 6/10
