My Brother is an Only Child

The tale of two brothers Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) in the chaotic poltical times of 1960s Italy (although nothing really changes in Italy). Accio is the younger (less favoured) brother who tries a seminary and then falls under the spell of local Fascist leader Mario. Manrico takes the Communist path. In fact the politics turns out to be somewhat irrelevant (and is treated in my view somewhat superficially) because this is really about sibling rivalry. Manrico is charismatic, dynamic, ruthless and arrogant. He gets the admiration of his father, mother, sister and every girl that he meets. Accio is aggressive and trying to get some attention in the only way he knows how - by taking the opposite view to the rest of his family in everything. Accio also hankers after Francesca, Manrico's girlfriend. There is quite a dark tinge to the film, because as the political situation unravels after the heady excitement of the 'year of revolution' of 1968, Manrico also turns out (predictably) to have feet of clay on all kinds of levels. I think the real problem with this film is that it was trying to deal with far too many themes - and ended up dealing with them far too simply, and far too superficially. There was quite an opportunity here to examine the extremes of politics in the 1960s, and how the political system of that time failed abysmally to solve the problems facing ordinary people. More smoke than mirrors perhaps. Rating 6/10