Rocco and His Brothers

I’m not sure this ought not to have been called “Simone” and his brothers as it’s that sibling (Renato Salvatori) whose actions seem to resonate most across this family. They are led my matriarch “Rosaria” (Katina Paxinou) from their roots in Italy’s south to find a new home in Milan. That’s because elder son “Vincenzo” (Spyros Fokas) has moved there to be with his girlfriend “Ginetta” (Claudia Cardinale). Almost immediately, there’s a bit of a lively inter-family squabble that sees the her and her other sons “Rocco” (Alain Delon), “Simone”, the more sensible “Ciro” (Max Cartier) and their much younger brother “Luca” (Rocco Vidolazzi) all struggling to make ends meet with “Vincenzo” doing what he can to assist. Jobs are hard to come by and so they all resort to milking the system to put a roof over their heads whilst “Ciro” gets a job and the others do what they can to raise some cash. The narrative is loosely compartmentalised with each brother getting a little bit of the storyline but increasingly they centre around the handsome but unreliable “Simone” who proves useful in the boxing ring and who starts to make some money and to date “Nadia” (Annie Girardot). She’s a lady of the night with whom he falls heavily for, but when she discovers that he his stealing to pay his way with her, she asks “Rocco” to return the gifts and moves to another town. Now “Rocco” receives his draft papers and having sent his last lire to his mother, bumps into “Nadia” and soon a romance of their own is bubbling. This one, though, is not based on supply and demand and when his brother discovers this news, he and his friends set up a scenario with heinous ramifications. With “Simone” now on quite an obviously self-destructive path, “Rocco” - himself now a distinguished boxer after his time in the army disgusted by his brother, and “Nadia” loathing just about everyone - including herself, things become more and more toxic for the “Parondi” family. It’s that toxicity that Luchino Visconti...