jotix100 The Bonnano clan, a Tuscany family of craftsmen, are seen finishing the restoration of a Romanesque church in that area of Italy, as the story begins. The father of the seven male brothers, decide this is going to be his last project. Andre and Nicola, who are responsible for some of the decorations, have something else in mind, they want to go to America to try their luck, where the brothers are sure they will succeed.Alas, their arrival in the foreign land is not exactly what they thought it would be. The Bonnanos have to work in a pig's farm to make a living, something they are forced to do in order to survive, a far cry to the exquisite work they involved with, back in Italy. Hope comes in the way of a train that stops near the farm where they are working. The brothers get to meet some of the Italians that are going to San Francisco to work in an important project that involves construction on an international fair in that city.Someone that really appreciated the excellent craftsmanship done by the immigrants is Hollywood director D.W. Griffith, a genius in his own right. The director is preparing for his epic film, "Intolerance", that requires the construction of larger than life sets and decorations. Nicola and Andrea decide to give Hollywood a try, but they meet prejudice and ridicule by some of the people involved in the production of those early silent films. The brothers find love, though, with two of the actresses that work in Griffith's pictures.The rise to fame and recognition is short lived when WWI begins. Nicola and Andrea go back to Italy fighting for two different countries, one for Italy, and the other one for the United States. By the time they meet again both have suffered a great deal of tragedy in their own lives. So when they both are wounded at the same battle field they find common ground posing for posterity with the camera that has been left behind near them.The Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, decided to pay tribute to those that came before them in the world of cinema. It is with reverence they treat the mystical figure of Griffith, who must have played an important part in their cinematic formation, somehow. This film, for some reason, doesn't work out for the Tavianis, in spite of the wonderful work they get from everyone. Probably the directors wanted to pay homage to so many of their fellow Italians that because of the poor conditions on their land had to emigrate to places like America where they went to contribute, along with other groups, to make our country what it is.Curious choice of the Tavianis for the leads. American Vincent Spano and Portuguese Joaquim De Almeida play Nicola and Andrea Bonnano. Their early scenes are about the best in the film, than when they achieved fame and notoriety. David Dance is seen as a soft spoken D.W. Griffith. Greta Scacchi has some good moments. Margarita Lozano, an actress that has worked a lot with the Tavianis also appears in a minor role. Omero Antonutti plays the older Bonnano.

Ralph Michael Stein Entertaining and interesting without much depth, "Good Morning, Babylon" never decides - through directorial eyes - whether to parody or chronicle the early silent cinema dominated by D.W. Griffith. However, directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani deserve much credit for turning a fantasy about early Hollywood into an attractive film.Two brothers, Nicola and Andrea (check the IMDb page for this film for the actors' names) leave their aging father after he closes their family historical renovation business in Italy. Their outstandingly fine, craftsman attention to detail won't keep the wolf of bankruptcy at bay. The father and brothers, along with other relatives and assorted laborers, have done yeoman work restoring the glorious facades of an Italy alive in memory and lost in reality. But their time won't come again until Perillo Tours rediscovers Italy.So Nicola and Andrea come to the Promised Land, arriving in Tinseltown after enduring the hardship of common work, including pig herding. Given their pedigree as artisans it's little surprise that they are attracted to the gaudy and slightly wacky Hollywood in its infancy.Enduring but escaping crude bigotry ("wops" is the strongest epithet in the film), the brothers get to meet and be hired by D.W. Griffith, well-played by Charles Dance. He has Griffiths' Southern accent and mannerisms cold - must have read a biography of the autocrat of the Silents.The brothers prosper enough to land two beauties, one played by the young Greta Scacchi, as brides. The women exchange their jobs as extras for leading roles in their beloveds' lives.Griffith is shown agonizing about turning his long germinating idea of an anti-war film into reality. That was (and is) the great "Intolerance" and brief scenes from this masterpiece of the early days of cinema are provided. If you haven't seen "Intolerance," shame on you!An unfortunate but not uncommon for the time domestic problem clouds the relationship of the brothers who then separate in anger, winding up later in The Great War on opposite sides. Somehow they fortuitously meet on the battlefield and resolve their differences in a denouement that challenges the war-hating viewer not to laugh.Intentionally or not, the war scenes are a caricature of early cinema's depiction of combat. Audiences that are used to the dynamic proto-realism of, say, "Saving Private Ryan" (where real amputees were used as extras so all got the point that having a leg blown off hurts), may find these scenes very plasticized. But we didn't live in the age of D.W. Griffith.Well worth renting. The score is interesting, halfway between Puccini and an organ grinder's playlist.6/10.

mbgeorge The film is historical and quite moving, encapsulating the experience of Italian Immigrants adjusting to a new life in the New World. The two brothers, and other characters, are well-developed. The film has excellent timing, breathtaking cinematography and a gripping storyline.

alirezat the last scene was the key to enter the whole fact of the film. Two brothers in 2 fronts against eachother, but the brother from US holds his hands up to show he is defeated by the other brother. But the film tells us why it shows us these brothers story: FILM...which makes people eternal on the celluloids. It shows us people in different centuries who worked on that church but the only ones whom we know are these brothers, because they curved themselves on the film which was in a camera around. Wow, the Film was softly striking... I wanted not to watch at first, but the first scene grabbed my heart and make me stay to watch it completely...