Skillfully directed by Francesco Rosi, "Three Brothers" is a subtly powerful and surprisingly unsentimental movie that flows smoothly between the past, present and future about three brothers returning to the small village where they grew up for their mother's funeral. Raffaele(Philippe Noiret) is a judge about to
hear a high-profile terrorism case. Rocco(Vittorio Mezzogiorno) is a social worker who works with juvenile delinquents. Nicola(MIchele Placido) is a factory worker who is separated from his wife. He has brought along his daughter, Marta(Marta Zoffoli), along for the ride. It is interesting to note that the brothers represent different stages of criminality. Rocco tries to reform troubled youth. Nicola is moving closer to violence in his union activities while Raffaele sits in judgment. The brothers live in the cities of a violently shifting Italy while the town they grew up in has changed very little over the years. To the villagers, the outside world exists only as something to be watched on television.
December 15, 2006
