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"Best of Youth (La Meglio gioventù)" proves that Italians have learned the art of the long-form television mini-series that the British have long mastered.

Covering a somewhat same period of the baby boom generation as "In A Land of Plenty," it has more of the generational feel of individuals caught up in history as we have usually seen in British mini-series about end-of-the-eras or World War I, such as "Brideshead Revisited" and "Jewel in the Crown." U.S. mini-series were more successful as sweeping historical epics, even when they were also family sagas like "Roots" and "Centennial;" when the networks tried to interpret more recent history, as in "The Sixties," the set characters sped through "Zelig" and "Forest Gump"-like in happening to be at the right place at the right time; perhaps the several seasons combined of the NBC series "American Dreams" could be considered comparable in showing how the times that are a-changing affect a family.

"Best of Youth" is being released in the U.S. in movie theaters, though I'm not sure even shown in two parts of three hours each how edited it is from the original format, as other grand European mini-series like "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Das Boot" and "Fanny and Alexander" were originally only shown in the U.S. in truncated theatrical versions as even PBS seems averse to television with subtitles so we rarely get to see the best of world television. Comparison to the Italian film "The Leopard" is unfair as that was not created in the same format and covers a shorter period of historical time.

"Best of Youth" combines charismatic acting, leisurely directing amidst beautiful scenery in several parts of Italy with writing that takes the trajectories of complex yet consistent characters' lives believably and searingly affected by uniquely Italian experiences of the baby boomers' young adult years through middle age, without the American tendency to reject or regret youthful ambitions, through the lens of local natural disasters, violent political activities, judicial battles against the Cosa Nostra, European economic changes, with regional variations, that Americans rarely see in movies.

The focus is primarily on two brothers from the 1960's almost to the present, played by two actors who must be the equivalent of George Clooney and Richard Chamberlain in Italian television. Alessio Boni in particular as Matteo captures the screen with such tortured macho dynamism that it's no wonder he's gone on to play Heathcliff and Dracula in other mini-series. His Paul Newman-like startling blue eyes become a talking point of the series and a continuing visual leitmotif. Similarly, the physical differences between the two actors help to point up the different paths the brothers take through life, even as the casting of other family members to look like them is eerily effective.

The series is particularly good at capturing the camaraderie amongst old male friends over the years and the intimate interactions of members of a family, particularly with children, with a strong theme of the importance of both as an anchor.

Unlike in American TV where women are adjuncts as the girlfriend/wife/mother, the key women here are crucial fulcrums in the brothers' lives and have separate intellectual, psychological and emotional demands.

The emotions are important here -- grief is shown very movingly, with more pain and tears than American culture usually allows. In one extended scene, we see a grieving mother walk slowly up a long flight of stairs in numbed silence and gradually see her revive as she learns of surprise news about her son.

There are of course some coincidences of family members' and friends' paths crossing at key junctures, but the story overall grips us.

The pop music selections,American, European and Italian, are wonderfully evocative.

This is a great movie! I thought that all of the acting by every single actor in the movie was just bloody fantastic. I thought that every one of the characters in the movie was very believable and all of them brought me to certain emotions, it was just a great story told in a great way and again what sold it all to me was the great acting by everyone involved from the stars on down to just the supporting bit players who make this movie work. Great big kudos to the director for getting such wonderful performances out of all of these people, I would definitely recommend seeing it to any fan of movies and/or fans of great acting.

A sweeping epic. It's the longest I've sat in one theater to watch a single piece (though it was originally released as a four-part series on Italian TV), and after six hours, I couldn't leave the theater for ten minutes, I had to come down off an emotional ledge. It's a tale of Italian history told through the story of one family, and by the end of the movie, you'll know and love them the way you do your own family.

Having just returned at 2 am from a festival showing of the movie that started at 5:30, I still can think of nothing but looking for anything and everything about this exceptional film that I came across more or less by accident. I can only sum up two points: it is an excellent yet easy-going overview of recent Italian history, and a truly moving, in an unbanal and unstereotypical, unpopcorny way, movie about the value of friendship, closeness, family. This film makes you want to live, to cherish the people you love and to be aware of the consequences of your acts. City living makes sour cynics out of teenage optimists (I'd count myself in until now), and this one is a lesson of keeping the best of yourself throughout life. A true inspiration! Bravo.

Can art transform life? If so, I would elect "The Best of Youth" as a primary candidate for that possibility.

Almost never in my over 60 years of film viewing have I been as deeply affected, haunted by characterizations, poetic dialog and brilliantly unexpected turns...and breadth of scope. The nuances of relationship between people...in this case the Italian family Carati, their lovers, friends, wards...are so moving, so deeply portrayed and inhabited by the actors that I was not only moved to tears, but inspired. Here is a view of how human beings can live the humanity so desperately needed in this crazed and warring world...also presented as an integral part of plot and interaction...and this done without any sort of didactic or polemic foisting...All achieved through the intimate and profound struggles of the film's characters.

Imagination and the incredible sensibility of director (Marco Tullio Giordana),writers (Petraglia and Rulli) and actors (most outstanding: Luigi LoCacio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti and Jasmine Trinca) combine to offer a film that carried this participant (for that's what I felt) into a realm only experienced by exceptional literature.

As is obvious...I highly recommend seeing this movie.

The Best of Youth is a wonderfully scripted, acted, and visually stunning film that will sweep you off your feet and into the lives of an Italian family as they go through the trials and tribulations of life. The film's main focus is on two brothers, Nicola and Matteo Catiti whose personalities are as different as night and day yet is also immediately apparent that these two love each other very much. Nicola is the younger, free spirited and philosophical brother while Matteo is more outspoken, with a hot temper and closed personality.

What I admired most throughout this film was the use and passage of time. Events in Italian history are not crammed into 120 minutes but is instead elongated, as Matteo and Nicola react in their own ways to the events that occur in their country. Time is such an important factor in this film, evidents not only by the six hour running time, but how those six hours are treated. Special occasions occur, yet none are given any special attention. The events that occur are important for that moment in time, yet one pass become mere memories such is the case of life.

With the passage of time, The Best Of Youth became such a moving experience for me. I felt as if I were a part of their family. I could not touch them, or talk to them, yet they seemed to welcome me with open arms as I silently watched their lives unfold before me. I could feel the love this family had for each other as I laughed and cried right beside them. Words just do not seem to be enough to describe the brilliance of this film. It is literally life transferred on screen.

The Best of Youth is remarkably acted and directed. At no time during this film was I bored, because such attention is made to character development, script, and cinematography. In the first part of the film, Nicola is exploring Norway, and sends a postcard to his brother back home telling him of his travels and experiences, and in three words, seems to sum up the film perfectly: "Life is beautiful." After viewing this film, you will share the same perspective.

HIGHLY Recommended

I waste a lot of time reviewing cute but rubbishy science fiction and horror films on this site. I'm a bit out of practice with watching, and critiquing, actual drama! But of course, I still realize that the key to great drama is the characters - and they make this epic Italian miniseries-turned-movie work, and work beautifully at that.

"The Best of Youth" focuses on various members of the Carati family and their friends, advancing from the 1960s to the near-present as it chronicles their lives in the context of social turmoil in Italy as a whole. For the most part, the story never drags, and every single character is compelling and sympathetic.

Many of the character have flaws, but they're not bad people - just complex. Many tragic things happen, but the film never wallows in misery, except on one wholly justified occasion. Moral conflicts are explored not in black-and-white, but in shades of grey. In other words, "The Best of Youth" is rich with the kind of warmth, complexity and subtle nuances that you tend to miss in most American dramas - even the ones that win Oscars.

I won't spoil the plot, really - I'll just say that both of the main characters, brothers Matteo and Nicola Carati, are charismatic and cool and well worth six hours of screen time. They're also very different, which keeps things interesting.

Are there any significant flaws here? Nah, not really. My interest waned a bit during some segments, particularly the historical ones that aren't explained that well. There's also a bit of cheesy makeup and blue screen, but that can be excused because this is really a TV production, as I understand it, not a big movie. Besides, I sort of love production flaws. They're fun, aren't they?

On a totally pointless note, I'd like to mention a strange plus of "The Best of Youth" - much of the cast is totally gorgeous. Guys and gals alike have reason to rejoice here...

One final random thought. While I'm glad that "The Best of Youth" was distributed and well-received in the U.S., I'm annoyed that it was publicized as being "like the Godfather" or "like the works of Scorcese." It's nothing like the Godfather, it's nothing like Scorcese. The marketers seemed to have believed, unfortunately, that U.S. audiences are only interested in Italian criminals, not normal Italian people. This sort of irritates me. (Note my surname and you'll figure out why!) But such concerns have nothing to do with the actual movie, which is pretty much flawless.

No, the number of minutes is no typo. This film is over six and a half hours long. But as Roger Ebert says, "I dropped outside of time and was carried along by the narrative flow; when the film was over, I had no particular desire to leave the theater, and would happily have stayed another three hours." Of course, I was watching in the comfort of my home but I agree completely with Mr. Ebert.

The narrative covers the years 1966 through 2003 and focuses primarily upon the older brother of a middle class Italian family. As it begins, the two brothers of the family are ready to pursue college education as an avenue to successful careers. The younger of them is volunteering at a local mental facility as a walker - a companion for patients who need to explore the world outside the institution. He finds that the girl he accompanies is being mistreated and more or less kidnaps her in an attempt to return her to her father's home. In this effort he seeks the help of his brother and the two embark upon an idealistic quest to return the girl to the love and safety of her home. The unhappy result of their venture changes the outlooks of both and sets them on paths which diverge from their original plans. Each chooses a new course which is in conflict with his basic personality. The older brother, who had been practical in all of his previous projects, finds himself diving into an alternative culture, whereas the younger, who had been more footloose, joins the military and eventually becomes a policeman. The encounters of both during the almost forty year span of the film gives us many insightful "what ifs" of two lives and reminds us of the enormous effect sheer chance has upon each of us.

If you are familiar with the Italian political climate and events during the era of this film, your enjoyment will be heightened , but even someone as politically innocent as I had no trouble understanding the conflicts of the major characters that come from diverging ideologies. (I can probably be pretty much assured that if you are a HSC "regular" you are well versed in the politics of Italy in the latter part of the Twentieth Century.) This film has a great "feel" to it in that it doesn't fall into the trap of being overly melodramatic, which is often the bent of films that span long periods of time. I was left with a good feeling at the end but it arose from having viewed the triumphs and tragedies of a very believable family, a family whose members change and grow as a result of their experience of life just as happens in all families no matter their geographic location.

As for geographic location, the viewer of this film is treated to many memorable scenes of Italy from the grit of the city to the blissful pleasures of the islands. The experience is one of a resident of the country rather than a tourist who only has privy to a gossamer view.

If you enjoy excellent film-making and a good story, I have no doubt that you will also be "carried along by the narrative flow" just as Mr. Ebert and I can guarantee you that you will enjoy the ride.

It's hard not to feel like an "easy" grader to give this film a 10, given that it is the very simple story of a family over 4 decades, no quirky writing or the eccentricities of "indie" films - just beautiful scenery, characters that move us and that we care about, and a sweet and believable story. The acting is excellent.

To say this is a miniseries is misleading and adds the impression of a "cheese" factor that is not present. There is a reason that this film has been taken from the small screen and released in theaters - I didn't even know it had been a miniseries until I read some of the comments here.

The story is simple but it is not trite; we may not have a huge number of surprises and no amazing plot twists and contortions but it is an emotional, moving, satisfying story.

The most moving part of the story is the love and connectedness between the characters, and how this is expressed - here in the U.S. physical display of platonic affection is virtually non-existent, unless you count athletes hitting each other on the rear. You can tell these characters really care for each other.

I sat for the second three hours today with people who sat through the first three hours with me yesterday. Some yesterday just got back in line for part 2. There was a line waiting to get in today - all people who had seen part 1 already.

Saying this movie is like Zelig as someone here did is false and insulting. We couldn't tell a story about a U.S. family that spans the 60's to the present without mentioning Viet Nam or Watergate or 9/11, so this story of course mentions events internal to Italy during that time. The historical events are a backdrop to the story, not the story itself.

The story is about this family, and we care about what happens to them. We become engaged, we sit and watch and laugh and cry with them. That's what movies are supposed to do.

The history of this movie reads like a fairytale. First it would only be made for TV, then someone decided to give it a release on the festival circuit. It won Un certain regard at Cannes and among others an audience award over here in Rotterdam. The many audience awards suggest it is well suited for the larger public. And it is not difficult to see why: It has a simple story where everybody can relate to. It sets some atmosphere from that time. The 60s and 70s generations can easily identify themselves with this and it will bring back some nostalgia from their youth.

The viewer walks through the last forty years of Italian history in a way that is reminiscent of Forrest Gump: The characters are exactly placed where the historic action is happening. The main characters meet and separate at several points in order to accomplish this. So we go from the abuse of psychiatric patients, to the flooding of Florence, the Turin student protests, Fiat lay-offs, Sicilian mafia, Red Brigades, tackling corruption, murder of Sicilian judges. One of the interesting aspects is that in the beginning the brothers cross characters: Nicola is pragmatic at first but becomes more idealistic, his brother Matteo more of a romantic figure (he studies literature) becoming a harsher character.

I saw part 1 and was disappointed. Although it started very intriguing by carrying the TV out of the home, it's in this phase basically a TV movie with a very distant and detached style. The story doesn't need that many hours, so we get some slow and uninteresting scenes in between due to the desired TV-format. To that point this only confirmed for me that TV is a boring medium far inferior to cinema. But I went in for part 2 and that was an excellent idea. Not for the first hour, basically a continuation of part 1. But then something in the movie changed from the suicide onwards. It served also as a suicide for the style of the movie until that point. And this was no longer the historic epic because little of world importance happened in Italy the last 15 years. So the story changes focus, and reaches territory Italian cinema is far more experienced in: conveying emotions around family relations. Everything gets better from that point: acting, cinematography, direction, editing.

It delivers emotional punch after punch and you must be almost cold-hearted not to be touched by them. You can feel the scars history left behind on Giulia. The two wonderful scenes with Adriana and books: first she throws her son's books away, and then she has a breakdown in the classroom. The way the beauty of Sicily is brought to the screen; Adriana remaining with her grandson Andrea and Mirella in Sicily. A house is built, a family is built. The story and family circle closes with the return to Norway by Andrea. Still one redundant scene: Matteo's approval of the relationship of his brother.

If you ever want to see a TV movie, let it be this one. And in conjunction I also recommend Scola's La Famiglia.

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago. Actually, you can't call it a movie because it's much more than that, it is a kind of mini-series. "La Meglio Gioventu" tells the story of two brothers: Matteo and Niccola. It starts when they are both about 18 years old; two young idealist who want to discover and change the world. What follows is partly Italian history, but mainly the personal history of the two brothers, growing up and finding their way through life.

This is one of the most beautiful, touching and human stories of the latest years. I enjoyed seeing this very much. Six hours may seem a long time but it isn't to tell a story of 50 years. It is wonderful to see both brothers growing up and changing.

The acting is excellent and the story is touching; the director has eye for detail and he manages the capture life in a very unique way. I can only advise everyone to see this. Outstanding! 9/10

My wife and I had been looking forward to this family epic, mostly because everybody seemed to lapse into hyperbole while describing it.

Well... There's certainly nothing wrong with La Meglio Gioventu, but we did wonder what the fuss was all about. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's a made-for-TV mini-series masquerading as a 6-hour movie; this means the story lines are sweeping, but the production values are not. The actors are so-so, and it should be noted that "Italian" does not equate "arty" or exclude "soapy". Really, you could splice together 6 episodes of "North & South" and achieve similar results.

Our advice: if you're into European family histories, see the German series "Heimat" instead. This actually is the cinematically brilliant, absorbing, life-changing experience La Meglio was cranked up to be.

Just have to throw in a note of dissent here, since the universal critical praise for this mediocrity is frankly mystifying. "The Best of Youth," at the end of the day is little more than a creaky melodrama that tries to cover its coincidences and rigged reversals with feigned subtlety and perfunctory attention to small drama. It's a soap opera too concerned with tastefulness to indulge in suds, and yet its view of character and history adds up to the same sort of reductive sentimentality that gives melodrama a bad name. Its evocation of "the sixties" through music--trotting out the usual Motown suspects--is strictly by-the-numbers nostalgia bait, and I find it telling that the soundtrack scarcely acknowledges any of the other decades the movie takes in once we're out of "Big Chill" territory and the comforts of well-trod cliché. If this is meant to represent the characters' sense of time through a relationship to the music of their youth and ignorance of pop culture after that, it doesn't work because there's no sense of people relating to the music (or even literally hearing it), no sense that they love it and need it to the point that it crowds out the songs of their future; pop hits are just laid on to tell us in the audience what year it's supposed to be...until they aren't. So characterization and sense of history--the very things the movie is supposedly about--suffer for such negligence. The acting is fine, and the writing has moments, but there's little electricity between the people on screen, and ultimately what we see is little more than skilled actors performing a screenplay for a camera. Meanwhile, the stodgy visual sense only intermittently delivers cinematic effects that either heighten the drama or draw attention to the potential epiphanies in nuance, doing little to enhance the stiff dramaturgy. The cinematography can perhaps be defended on the basis that this was originally filmed for Italian TV, but that's really no excuse if you compare with the photography in an average episode of "6 Feet Under," or "The West Wing," never mind a gorgeous piece of work like Jane Campion's "An Angel at My Table" which was also made for television. The film just doesn't go very deep, and comparison with an undeniably problematic work of the same genre like Bertolucci's propagandistic "1900" or even Copolla's third "Godfather" movie just reveals how flimsy this is. Well-paced and never boring, its 6 hours are still too much to ask, given the movie's thin and surfacy takes on family and history. Why bother with pretentiously "novelistic" movies like this when you could get so much more from spending that time reading an actual novel or watching 3 movies that don't care to be anything but cinema?

"There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants." Montaigne

Rarely does a new film find a place on a longstanding short list of best ever. The Italian import Best of Youth recently entered my all time best ten, a singular honor considering I had to sit still for six hours of viewing, and I rarely sit still anytime, even if my name is DeSando and it's a family saga.

Director Francis Ford Coppola created a movie empire with his Godfather series and ended up with what some consider the best American movie ever made. It is unforgettable for its emphasis on family values mafia style and its stunning photography. The Best of Youth is decidedly not mafia related; rather it is a romantic and historical rendering of Italy from the 1960's as seen through the lives of the Carati family and their friends and lovers. The two brothers, Nicola and Matteo, represent the Janus-like conflict of liberal and conservative in the volatile last half-century of Italian social and cultural change.

This is humanistic history at its best as director Marco Tullio Giordana takes us through the sexy seventies, a devastating Florence flood, the emergence of Red Brigades, assassinations and business downturns including the Fiat layoffs. Despite deaths, suicide, and disappointment, the last line of the film, spoken in the new century, repeats the sentiment of the youthful days in the last century that everything is truly beautiful. How can you miss that theme when the cinematography emphasizes the antique charm of Italy and the close up beauty of actors who look their parts, albeit rarely ugly? The film, often tightly framed, accentuates character over plot and a certain imprisonment in character and destiny. The choice of actors is nothing short of inspired.

The genius of Best of Youth is that like Italy itself, this family is a stew of ideologies that offers up dignity of the individual as the highest value and respect (remember The Godfather) for humanity the only arbiter of peace. This film stands with Brokeback Mountain and The New World as a towering achievement and testimony to the transcending power of art to make us look at ourselves as vulnerable and beautiful.

This movie really touched me. I can even say that it is the best movie I have ever seen. On the beginning you have a man with great enthusiasm, then he gets more serious because of his job and his middle ages, an then later... There are many unforgettable scenes. There is history, love, romance, adventure, psychology, drama, fun and everything. The scenario and the acting is perfect, especially Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco) and Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio). I was sad when the movie ended, I could watch 6 more hours. Maybe this is a personal effect because of the wonderful scenario. Anyway you can witness a complete life story from the beginning till the end. The director was very careful and attentive, I haven't seen anything wrong. Thanks to everybody worked on that movie.

This is not only a story, this is a practically perfect mix of history and story, of private and public, of feelings,love,life. I believe in everybody who loves CINEMA there is a dream, to make a movie in which the story run like the life, in which we could feel like when, children in our bed, waiting to be catch by the sleep, we listen the tales from our parents and everything seems more real than reality. This movie is the evidence that sometimes the life could be translate in an universal language, where everybody could feel a part of himself on the screen. LA MEGLIO GIOVENTU' is the story of a family, four young brothers, along the last forty years in Italy (but it could be everywhere). There are a psychiatrist, a policeman, a lawyer and an housewife, but there are also their relatives, friends, in poor words there is the LIFE. I would suggest to see this long tale, you will feel better.

It's 1AM on a weekday, and more than a year after watching this movie for the third time, I'm still haunted by it, like an overwhelming memory that won't fade. I think I know what it is: it is all the profound humanity that this film projects, in its pure, real, obtainable form, through its different stories, its passions, its formidable characters - especially the one of Nicola, whom it is so easy to love and identify with.

Such a film is a bowl of fresh air, especially for all of us idealists who start to believe the world has turned into a giant cynical machine. The success of this movie is a proof that we haven't forgotten our emotions yet.

Out of all the films that I've watched (and I'm a big cinephile), this one stands out as the one that affected me the most, in terms of emotional value. Out of nowhere I'll just start thinking about it and start crying and laughing and celebrating human life. Sounds corny, I know... I'll probably never get over it, just as I'll never get over the Rach 3 or Neruda's poetry or a Patagonian morning.

It's 1.10AM on a weekday, I can't resist a 4th screening...

I've just finished watching this gripping film. I was on the Gothenbeug Film festival, but I did not see it. The 6,5 hours were a daunting prospect. On Swedish telly the divided in into 4 parts which were shown 4 days in a row. It is one of those series where one is longing for the next episode, I found myself pondering about the film, the characters all day. So many things has been said already in other reviews which I don't have to repeat I just say watch this lowly very slowly unfolding slice of life and Italian history. If it doesn't move you you will have to have a heart of stone. Excellent acting, wonderful photos, lots of atmosphere.....

As I was about to write my review, I was very positively surprised at seeing the wide, and I would say worldwide success of this awesome Italian "movie": reviewers from all over Europe and across the ocean prove that when a product is intelligently-crafted it is able to cross borders, even though it's deeply rooted in Italian history and could sound a little unfamiliar to a foreign audience. Most comments consist, indeed, of positive words of praise in favour of this movie: emotionally engaging, never boring, despite the long time-run, authentic, genuine, poetic, finely characterised, wonderfully acted, sober, delicate, sensitive, intelligent, never banal, captivating, enjoyable at every age: simply great.

I agree with all the qualities outlined by the users' reviews, and just add a great merit: the total lack of any political line-up, in a movie where great political events and dramas of Italian history are displayed. Faults and merits are just to be seen, everyone may form his/her opinion, but Giordana never falls into the temptation to make any propaganda or engage any political controversy. As an Italian, and living in a country where nowadays every aspect of one's life is object of political assessment, as if politics were the only criterion of one's behaviour, I appreciate this political non-commitment (not in the sense of indifference, of course, but of sterile factiousness) as a comforting and rare quality. Everything, even tragic events with deep social wounds, is displayed with such delicacy, everything gets such an intimate and human dimension, that the movie can really reach a universal impact.

For me, The Best of Youth is one of those movies you can never leave, I bought the DVD, which I keep jealously and lend only to deserving true friends. It's a sort of sweet companion, which never disappoints, it's so loaded with sound feelings and humanity that it is a sort of drug I take when I feel down, and recovering is granted!

A friend of mine, who also is avid movie fan, recommended me this movie. I was initially apprehensive looking at the length of the movie, but then decided to give it go. I did not want to the movie to end, it is the most poetic and graceful movie i have seen in sometime now. Matteo and Nicola, both played to perfection by the actors...the anger felt by Matteo, the loneliness was essayed flawlessly by Alessio....i could see glimpses of 'Che' in him, so did i see it in Nicola as well. There are no cinematic liberties taken in the movie...the twist and turn as beautiful as the women in the movie. I watched this movie spread over 3 days and those 3 days i lived the lives of Matteo, Nicola, Giorgia and Giulia. I highly recommend this movie for people who appreciate cinema.

I'm sorry to be doing this, and I won't blame you if you disregard my review because of it, but I'm basing my comments only on the first half of this six-hour film.

Expecting much from this acclaimed and obviously beloved made-for-Italian-television miniseries, I instead finished the first half absolutely mystified at what people are responding to. The movie follows the stories of two very different but very close brothers whose lives take quite different directions: at the end of part I, one was a doctor dedicating himself to psychiatric institutional reform while the other was a military police officer. The film absolutely races through its plot; I'm not exaggerating when I say that if you leave the room for a minute without pausing the film you may come back to find that years have passed while you were gone. The storytelling is completely one-note; all incidents and events are told with the same uniform tone, so that the drama has no peaks and valleys, and none of it is compelling. Sure, a lot happens in terms of story, but I wasn't remotely engaged in any of it or in these characters. I'm sending the second half back unwatched, because there are too many other movies out there I want to see to muster up the energy or time to watch three more hours of this.

I will give "The Best of Youth" the benefit of the doubt that it views better in its original format, as installments on T.V. Maybe the story would seem like it was taking its time a bit more if it were coming at you across a longer period of time, and maybe the static and boring film-making would come across better if you were watching it as a T.V. movie and not as a feature film. But that still doesn't make me like it any better.

Grade: B-

This is the most beautiful film I have ever had the pleasure of watching. 6 hours seems short compared to how long this film with affect me for. There are countless moments where one cannot help but smile and stare in awe of this work. The camera work is stunning, the acting is gorgeous, the locations are sumptuous, the breadth and quality of the music is wonderful; I cannot think of another film that one can say that about. And that is not even touching upon other virtues such as how witty, philosophically deep and politically moving it is. It is quite simply a tour de force of film making. I defy anyone to watch this and not be enthralled and moved by its beauty. Incredible.

(Disclaimer: comments apply only to Part I.)

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, but found it too loosely paced and too emotionally distant. Occasionally the depiction of historic events is emotionally involving, but the depiction of interpersonal relationships is curiously distant and dispassionate. There are many relationships on the screen (love, friends, family) for which we never hear discussions of issues or thoughts and emotional reactions. We just see situations and joinings and partings.

I imagine that someone who lived though the historic events in Italy would be more affected by this movie. I found myself unsatisfied, and hungry to really see more about what these characters thought and talked about between themselves when the screenwriter wasn't around.

I think the loose pacing (and perhaps the weak character depiction) comes from it originally being a TV miniseries (from what I've read). It is too long & cold for watching in a theater. I was expecting something of the quality of Cinema Paraiso.

I did enjoy Part I, just not as much as I was hoping to based on reviews, and I do look forward to seeing Part II someday, but not right away.