Product Description

Bernardo Bertolucci's massive epic, a history of Italy from 1900 to 1945 as reflected through the friendship of two men across class lines, is one of the most fascinating, if little seen, of his films. After beginning with Robert DeNiro as wealthy landowner Alfredo, and Gerard Depardieu as labor leader Olmo, the film returns to 1900 with the death of composer Giuseppi Verdi and the birth of the two friends. The opposing class interests of their grandfathers, padrone Burt Lancaster, and laborer Sterling Hayden, is quickly established in the enmity between the characters. As they grow, the boys become friends, mystified by the tensions that separate their families. But as time passes and Alfredo assumes the role of padrone, while Olmo works the land, their relationship becomes strained. With the rise of fascism, the director spells out its complicity with business interests, as the diffident Alfredo falls under the spell of a vicious and degraded fascist farm manager played by Donald Su

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7263 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-05
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 315 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
1900 is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well, choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants (Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate, until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid fans. --Marshall Fine

On the DVD
The extra features for 1900 are brief but valuable, consisting of two short featurettes. Both are simply an interview with director Bertolucci (with director of photography Vittorio Storaro chiming in on the second, titled Creating an Epic), who dismisses charges that he uses sex exploitively, discusses Jean Renoir's encouragement to "find a way to let reality enter the film," and admits that, regarding his grand ambitions for the movie--that it would provide a bridge between the U.S. and the Soviet Union--"I was completely nuts." Bertolucci is his usual charming self as he relishes his memories of making this expansive film. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, yet not for every taste...
Bertolucci's massive epic has wonderful and grim moments, and is a must for every serious cinema buff. That said, it isn't for everyone and demands much of the viewer. Dominique Sanda's performance alone is worth your time, to say nothing of De Niro back in the days when he still acted...

Nove-sucko
I am giving this movie 2 stars because of the cinemotography and the potential of the story. This endless, wanna-be epic falls short in virtually every area. The characters are one-dimensional caricatures -- simple, but noble peasants, tyrannical landowners, perverted fascists. Sometimes, as in the case of DeNiro's wife, they are just plain annoying. The plot is so slow, trivial, and oft-times bordering on ridiculous that the five plus hour run time seems like ten.

Despite the seemingly can't-miss cast, the acting is also suspect. I am a huge Robert DeNiro fan, but his voice is so flat, I prefer him in dubbed Italian. Donald Sutherland, usually restrained, overacts to the extreme. The minor parts sound considerably better in Italian than English.

As with many post-war Italian directors such as Pasolini and Visconti, Bertolucci includes several disturbing scenes attempting to depict the perverse nature of the landowners or fascists. Unfortunately, these scenes of child molestation, animal cruelty, and ear "abuse" merely suggest the perverted nature of the director himself.

Overall, there are much better uses of five hours. Curiosity seekers should probably rent as the story too simple and long to warrant repeat viewing.

A time capsule of great actors...
I can only give "1900" three stars as a movie, but I can recommend it highly for its beautiful cinematography of rural Italy and its showcase of some fine stars as they were in 1976. If you liked DeNiro as the young Don in "The Godfather", you'll see lots of the same in this movie. Burt Lancaster gives you a fine portrayal of Burt Lancaster, this time as an Italian padrone which is a bit different.

But my favorite is the young Donald Sutherland brilliantly playing his trademark oily, snarky, lewd, and opportunistic character to perfection. Nobody can make your skin crawl like the leering and grinning Sutherland. He is the best creep in the movie business...

"1900" is difficult to follow sometimes and some good editing could have removed certain scenes of gratuitous and pointless "ugh" stuff involving a cat, a pig, and a bevy of frogs. But the violence against humans is fairly tame and mostly offscreen. Still, this is an Italian movie, and I enjoyed it for showcasing some fine and interesting actors as they were 30 years ago. It's worth seeing at least once...