Indy-11 It's very difficult for me to understand the love for this film. It may, in fact, be one of the worst films I have ever seen. No character is really developed, despite the over 5 hour run time, and one of them, the Padrone DeNiro's wife, may be the single most annoying character ever set in a movie.Speaking of DeNiro, roughly 80% of his dialogue sounds like he doesn't really even care what he's saying. Poor Donald Sutherland was given the diabolical "Attila" role. It's pretty much a one note performance of evil and stupidity from beginning to end. Scenes are in the film which serve no purpose other than to bore the audience to tears, or in my case, make me cry from laughing. After a young boy is killed, the guests at a wedding run around in the scene immediately following as if they were in a Keystone cops movie. One of the lead characters is named Olmo, which was the basis for another film years later called St. Olmo's Fire. Oh wait, I meant he was the basis for a stupid Muppet on Sesame Street. There's a scene where a character gets his face stuffed with horse manure. That experience is very similar to watching this film. 1900 is simply another 1970's catastrophe along the lines of Heaven's Gate.

kaljic It is gratifying to see that this film is finally receiving the recognition it deserves. The United States market never understood this film. First put off on the length distributors cut and slashed the film to a length they thought movie-goers would tolerate and produced an inferior product that made no sense. The movie-goers themselves were not of a mind-set to appreciate the themes and content of the film. It was released during the height of the disco period when the movie-going public wanted to see Saturday Night Fever and not a politically charged film. There would have been a different result if the film had been released ten years earlier, but even that possibility is doubtful. The film is unabashedly leftist and proudly exposes the virtues of Marxism, so much so it has been called the Marxist Gone With the Wind. Finally, the historical issues portrayed in the film, while familiar to European watchers, are totally unknown to American movie-goers, who never had much interest in history anyway. Still, with all of these drawbacks, its was on its release and remains widely popular in just about every other country in the world and a film of incredible beauty. I watched the 2-DVD release years after first viewing this movie in Europe when it was first released. Little did I know I was watching the European uncut, five hour plus, version, which was not available in the United States. The 2-dvd version loses little of the effect and Bertolucci does not hide his political sympathies. Some may believe that the political message detracts from the film. Far from it. Its message is more relevant today than when it was first released. Burt Lancaster and Robert de Niro took reduced fees for acting in the movie, they believed in the vision so much. De Niro made this movie immediately following Godfather II and could have demanded a higher fee, but didn't.Other reviews have taken exception to the candid depictions to the coming of age scenes, and the scenes depicting the killing of animals. While this may offend PETA sensibilities, and as difficult it is to see the slaughtering of the pig --- or any animal --- there was a point to this part of the movie. One of the purposes of this movie, Bertolucci says in the bonus features, is to remind modern day Italians where they came from. He states that the Italian viewer watching this film in the 70's was only one or two generations away from the lifestyle reflected in the movie. It is faithfully recording everyday life of Italian peasantry, a practice which lives on today in villages in Southern Europe. Nothing was wasted because they could not afford to waste anything.Folks, this is not post-modern urban life in America. American viewers in the early stages of the 21st Century may be farther removed from the practice of slaughtering livestock and scrounging for a meager existence, but as the day laborers in 1990 lived, but I can assure you that there was a day when that was precisely how Americans lived. It is how people lived their lives, until very recently, for hundreds and hundreds of years.American viewers should be more disturbed on seeing how fascism took hold in pre-WWII Italy. It is a reminder how it can happen, here or anywhere, but, ... "It Can't Happen Here" ....As difficult as these scenes are to watch, Bertolucci's 1900 is actually a rather accurate reflection of political trends in Southern Europe in general, and Pre- and Mid-WWII Italy and Greece in particular, and an accurate depiction of post WWI Italy.A particularly accurate account is the scene late in the movie, when, after the war and after the trial of Berlingheri, partisans come moving in, notifying the mob that a new government was installed, and requested everyone turn in their firearms, which they did. Roughly the same post-WWII events occurred in Greece.Whatever one may be the political predispositions of anyone viewing 1900, Bertolucci has created a film of great and exquisite beauty, with a powerful message as relevant today as when it was released. Every frame is suitable for framing, and matches the magnificent the oil painting which opens the film.

runamokprods So flawed that I almost feel weird giving it this high a rating. But two viewings of this somewhat bloated 5 hour plus film left me feeling the same way; The film is over-simplistic in its characters and politics, badly dubbed (with actors from all over speaking their own language, so whatever soundtrack you pick there are important characters who sound like something out of 'What's Up Tiger Lily'), and even the English spoken by DeNiro seems post- recorded, making for an oddly stiff sounding performance. Yet for all these complaints it is somehow a near-great film. There are so many moments; images, incidents that are indelible, and in the end there's such a real emotional punch to this overview of the history of Italy from 1900 to 1945 as seem through the lives of a few people in a small town that it overcomes many of the flaws. I couldn't defend the film from anyone who wanted to tear it down – e.g. the simple-minded jingoistic endless competition between fascism and communism as if those were the only two options in the world, with both sides reduced to cartoon like figures of evil and good.But it's strengths are strong enough that I'd urge people to judge for themselves. You may find, like me, that all the flaws don't matter to you when a film has so many unforgettable moments. (although I suspect some may want to hunt down and kill me for the recommendation).

Bardotsalvador This is one of my favorite movie is very long about 6 hours but its so good that you don't care i saw this movie the first time in in a revival movie house in New York City i love the movie from beginning to end is a masterpiece ,plus is the wonderful Dominique Sanda one of the most beautiful and talented actress in the world , plus Laura Betti a great actress she play the fascist wife of Donald Sutherland both are evil and perfect in their part plus Burt Lancaster never been better than here evil rich old man , Robert de Niro and Gerad Depardieu i am not a fan of either one are good here, Stephanie Sandrelli a great Italian movie star is good too , don't miss the movie i know is very long but you will not mine just go with the emotion and the time in history plus remember is Dominique Sanda in this movie