gradyharp MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD ('Mio fratello è figlio unico') is a title that may confuse the casual movie viewer, but it is an apt summation of the rigorous story that this excellent Italian film by Danielle Luchetti (adapted from a novel by Antonio Pennacchi) represents - the coming of age of two brothers in the confusing and turbulent 1960's and 1970's in Italy. While the film deals with the myriad political factions that disrupted life especially among the students of that era, the main focus of the story is the indomitable brotherly love that bonds the two main characters. Accio Benano (Vittorrio Emanuele Popizo) as a child is a mischief maker who has entered seminary to become a priest, but his innate search for truth and meaning soon finds him returning home to his little family in a Mussolini-fabricated town called Latina, a village built on promises of communal well-being (a housing project was built but the poor villagers are refused access to it), but languishes in the poverty of lost hopes and deflated spirits. Accio's father, mother, younger sister and older brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) are making ends meet, but are frustrated with the political oppression of the working class. Time passes and the older Accio (Elio Germano) comes under the influence of Mussolini's 'idealism' with the tutelage of his older friend Mario (Luca Zingaretti) and embraces Fascism while Manrico has aligned with the communists, and it is this dichotomy of belief that sets Accio apart from his brother as well as his family who are communist sympathizers. Accio's personality places him in harms way with the law, with women (he has longings for the women in both Mario's and Manrico's lives), and ultimately with turns of events that threaten to pit brother against brother. The resolution of these conflicts makes for a fascinating study of familial ties, brotherly love, and a keenly observed sociopolitical history of Italy that is as enlightening as it is entertaining. While Germano and Scamarcio are the obvious stars of this well acted film, the supporting cast (including such fine actors as Angela Finocchiaro, Massimo Popolizio, Alba Rohrwacher, Anna Bonaiuto, and Diane Fleri) is uniformly strong. This epic film demands full attention to the script (Italian with English subtitles) to follow the various political differences, but the tenor of the film is one of the excitement and concomitant love of two brothers coming of age in the best Italian style! It is a joy to watch and a lesson in history about which we should all be aware. Grady Harp

Seamus2829 If you had the rare chance to see 'The Best Of Youth' a few years ago, and was dazzled by it's very well written screenplay, here's another feather for your cap. 'My Brother Is An Only Child' re-unites the writers of that fine film for another tale of sibling rivalry. It tells the tale of two upper class Italian brothers, one just liberated from seminary school, where he was kicked out for bad behavior,and decides to become a neo fascist. The other, a dedicated communist. The volatile mix of passion (and hard headed)of the two brothers make for a panorama of social change in Italy of the mid to late 1960's. This is a beautifully filmed,smartly acted & crisply directed film that's well worth seeking out.

johno-21 I saw this last month at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. This is a good offering from Italy and director/writer Daniele Luchetti who co-wrote the screenplay with Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli based on the semi-autobiographical novel Il Fasciocmunista by Antonio Pennacchi. The story takes us from 1962 to around 1977 and as it begins we follow Accio Benano (Vittorrio Emanuele Popizo) who is a scrappy little mischief-maker who loves to fight and ends up in a seminary to study for the priesthood. This falls through and he returns home to his mother and father and older sister and brother. They live in a small town that was created by WWII era fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The family home and most others in town are falling apart and the community awaits long promised new government housing from the current series of governments but the housing that is already constructed sits unoccupied. The older Accio (Elio Germano) has grown into an even more mischievous and rebellious young man and through his friendship with Mario (Luca Zingaretti), a Mussalini sympathizer who longs for the old days he joins the local Fascist party. This is in direct contrast to his family who are communist sympathizers and Accio older, charismatic and handsome brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) has joined the local communist party and is involved in organizing workers at the factory where he works. Accio has an eye for Manrico's girlfriend Francesca (Diane Fleri) and Mario's wife Bella (Anna Bonaiuto) has a Mrs. Robinson kind of attraction to Accio. This is a drama with plenty of smart comedy. An excellent cast and director Luchetti get the most out of them. It's a simple story that never bogs down and keeps moving with good dialog interesting situations. I would give this an 8.0 out of 10 and recommend it.

l_enterprise Simply put, a very good movie. As somebody who lived through part of those years, I really appreciated the way it managed to recreate their social and political 'atmosphere'. Yes, it is not the first flick to deal with those topics, but hey, how many movies about WW2 have we seen so far? Was Flags of our Fathers less good for this reason? I particularly liked Accio's description of personal relationships between the brothers, as well as the intriguing political evolution. I thinks that Scamarcio's presence could also take a younger audience to this movie, something which would be very good as some stories are just worth remembering (I can't stand the "let's forget about it and move on towards modernity" approach; awfully dangerous for a civilized society). Back to the cinema factor, all actors fit well in their roles, although the Accio's sister was kind of lame at times. Zingaretti's performance as a hardcore fascist, on the other hand, was made even more intriguing by his close association with the ever-different character of Commissario Montalbano in the popular TV transpositions of Camilleri's novels (which by the way I strongly recommend to anyone interested in Italian written fiction).