Despite all the criticism that's been thrown at this film I'm proud to say that this is still worthy of everyone's time and you have to credit this remarkable director for being bold enough to take on something this immense in scale. Anything this size and length will undoubtedly have areas in the story that just won't work for some (Lord knows I found a few) but to say that this film is a failure just doesn't sit well with me because I think all that is right with this seemingly gets forgotten. Story takes place in Italy with the death of Verdi in 1900 and ends with the death of Mussolini in 1945 and shows during the course of those years the rise and fall of fascism. Two boys are born on the same day with one being the grandson of a wealthy land owner (Burt Lancaster) and the other a bastard child of a peasant (Sterling Hayden) who works on the estate as a foreman.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** The story follows these two as Alfredo Berlinghieri (Robert DeNiro) inherits his fathers land after his death while Olmo Dalco (Gerard Depardieu) continues to live among the peasants and while they try and remain friends it becomes difficult with the separation between landowners and workers. Fascism is on the rise and Alfredo's foreman Attila (Donald Sutherland) becomes a blackshirt and he and his cohorts start to threaten the rest of the residents in the area. Over the years Alfredo marries Ada Fiastri Paulhan (Dominique Sanda) but she becomes disillusioned with her husbands cowardice and apathetic attitude to the point where she not only sympathizes with the workers but she becomes an alcoholic and leaves Alfredo. With the end of WWII and Mussolini the peasants kill Attila and decide to hold a mock trial for Alfredo in which they will decide his fate but it's Olmo who convinces everyone that what he symbolizes is already dead.
Director Bernardo Bertolucci has always been one of my favorite filmmakers and God knows I would never miss one of his films but I'm the first to admit that viewing 1900 is indeed a chore. The film's style can definitely be compared to the great Sergio Leone (in length as well) but Bertolucci's personal stamp is readily evident in several scenes such as the graphic nudity and the beautiful Italian countryside. Many viewers and critics have pointed out several of the (so-called) flaws in the story such as the portrayal of the peasants who come across as unsympathetic and I'm in agreement with this because the scene in which a worker cuts his own ear off serves no purpose at all and what exactly did Alfredo do that was so horrible that the people put him on trial? Being born into wealth? Apathy? These are not crimes! For me, one scene stands out that seems to belong in another film and it's where Alfredo and Ada snort some cocaine which makes one wonder how prevalent that drug was in the early parts of the 20th century. There are some glaring events in this attempted epic that might have viewers scratching their heads but for me this ambitious film represents the type of project that other directors should want to tackle (at least once) in their careers. Okay, the script goes all over the place but not once can I say I was bored watching this (I've seen it twice so far) and that's a tribute to Bertolucci who has consistently given audiences films to be talked about.
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