1900

Gerard Depardieu and Robert De Niro play childhood friends—a peasant and the scion of a vast country estate, respectively—who grow up to become adversaries in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 multinational epic, which opens at the turn of the 20th century and follows their stories through the fall of Mussolini after World War II. Bertolucci charts the end of agrarian feudalism and the rise of fascism as Olmo (Depardieu) becomes a committed labor leader, while weak-willed Alfredo (De Niro)—charged with managing the estate—slips into drink and decadence, ceding his authority to his brutal foreman, Attila (Donald Sutherland). Burt Lancaster and Sterling Haydn play the father figures, holdovers from the hard lives of an earlier era, and Dominique Sanda costars as Alfredo's aristocratic wife, strong and savvy where he is weak. Bertolucci's attempt to sum up 50 years of history is overburdened with narrative complications, sketchy characters, and overt political statements; but 1900 is also an earthy, passionate work, with scenes of great beauty (thanks in part to the graceful camerawork and rich photography of Vittorio Storaro) and savage violence. While not a masterpiece, this is an important ‘70s film, flaws and all. Olive presents the complete 315-minute director's cut—with graphic nudity, sex scenes, and animal violence—with a choice of the original English, Italian, and French language soundtracks on DVD and Blu-ray. Extras include a 2002 documentary on the director. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)