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MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD Send This Review to a Friend
Director Daniele Luchetti has given us a film in the tradition of Italian cinema that provides a sweep of the political scene while telling intensely personal stories. “My Brother Is an Only Child,“ which Luchetti wrote together with Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, based on Antonio Pennacchi’s novel “Il Fasciocomunista,” takes place in an Italian town during the 1960s and 70s. You may recall that Petraglia and Rulli wrote the screenplay for “The Best of Youth,” and their talent for giving a human face to events is also evident here.
The brothers in the story are Manrico (Riccardo Scarmacio), who is dedicated to the local Communist party, and Accio (Elio Germano), his younger brother who goes through a series of efforts to find his place in life. There is rivalry between the brothers, but there is also a brotherly bond that persists to some extent no matter the circumstances.
Accio is an amusing young fellow. First he wants to become a priest, against his brother’s scoffing at the idea. Accio is soon disillusioned with that course. Next he is impressed by a local Fascist party leader and becomes enamored of that right-wing ideology. He in turn becomes disillusioned with that, and in the interim is seduced into an affair by the Fascist boss’s emotionally and physically needy wife. In the process of spinning the story the film scans what was going on in Italy during this era.
Political humor surfaces. We are treated to a Communist concert in which the “Ode to Joy” is performed with lyrics praising Mao. Romantic complications also surface. Acciuo secretly is in love with his brother’s girlfriend Francesa (Diane Fleri), but doesn’t know how to express it, and he also scorns his brother’s cavalier treatment of her. The film includes portrayals of the sister in the family, and the working class parents trying to exert control over the three offspring.
The film deepens when the activities of Manrico become more serious and dangerous as his revolutionary ardor escalates, and we see the toll taken on the intertwined personal lives. Accio at one point leads an action to get his parents and others into the apartments they have been promised but have been kept from by corruption.
“My Brother is an Only Child” is one of the best and most involving films to emanate from Italy in some time. It is rich in content, engrossing and well-acted, all involving the span of recent history deftly revealed and interpreted by the filmmakers. A THINKFilm release.
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