The Best of Youth

The Best of Youth (La meglio gioventù)
Original Italian film poster
Directed by	Marco Tullio Giordana
Produced by	Angelo Barbagallo
Written by	Sandro Petraglia Stefano Rulli
Starring	Luigi Lo Cascio Alessio Boni Adriana Asti Sonia Bergamasco Fabrizio Gifuni Maya Sansa Jasmine Trinca Lidia Vitale Valentina Carnelutti Claudio Gioè
Distributed by	Miramax
Release date(s)	Italy: June 22, 2003 United States: 2005
Running time	354 minutes (theatrical version, two parts) / 400 (TV version, four episodes)
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Best of Youth (Italian: La meglio gioventù), is a 2003 Italian film directed by Marco Tullio Giordana. Originally planned as a four-part mini-series, it was presented at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival where it won the prestigious Un Certain Regard award. It was then given a theatrical release in Italy in two three-hour parts in which 40 minutes were edited out. The complete version was aired in Italy from December 7 to 15, 2003 on Rai Uno in four parts.

In the U. S., the film was screened in several cities in two three-hour parts. The two-disc DVD of the film is similarly divided.

Giordana, who directed a film about the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini, again paid tribute to the director in this film, as its title comes from a Pasolini poem. The film falls within the tradition of several Italian films that cover expansive times of Italian history through the story of one family, such as Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard.

Plot

The Best of Youth is a family saga set in Italy from 1966 through 2003. It chronicles the life of an Italian family, the Caratis, but focuses primarily on two brothers, Matteo (Alessio Boni) and Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio), documenting their journey from the prime of their wild youth in the mid-1960s counterculture, to parenthood and retirement in the early 2000s. The film aims to show the interaction of the personal and the political, the ways in which small events may become turning points in the important choices made by individuals.

1966 summer

Two brothers go their separate ways after attempting to rescue a young girl, Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca), from an abusive sanitarium. The brothers are Nicola and Matteo Carati (Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni). We meet their parents, Angelo (Andrea Tidona) and Adriana (Adriana Asti), their older sister Giovanna (Lidia Vitale), and their kid sister Francesca (Valentina Carnelutti). And we meet their friends, their lovers, and others who drift through, including a mental patient whose life seems to follow in parallel.

Nicola qualifies as a doctor (and will pursue a career in psychiatry). Matteo, on the other hand, walks out of his final exam. He had been working as a "logotherapist" (a person who takes mental patients for walks) and his patient was Giorgia. Noticing that Giorgia has been wounded by electroshock therapy, he decides to remove her from the institution and take her along with him and Nicola — who are about to venture on a trip to Norway.

Eventually, Giorgia is captured by the police and taken back to the asylum. Nicola continues to Norway and gets a job as a lumberjack. Matteo returns to Rome and joins the army. The brothers meet again in Florence just after the 1966 Arno River flood. Here, Nicola meets a university student, Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco).

1968 February

Nicola and Giulia are living together in Turin, but the two do not marry.

1974

Nicola and Giulia have a daughter named Sara. After some time, Giulia gets drawn into a secret Red Brigade cell. One night, she leaves Nicola and Sara and disappears into the terrorist underground.

Meanwhile, Matteo leaves the army to join the police force. He accepts an assignment in Sicily, a place corrupted by the Mafia. There, he meets a photographer in a caffè named Mirella (Maya Sansa). She wants to be a librarian, and he advises her to work at a beautiful library in Rome.

Because of his temper, Matteo is forced to leave Sicily. He decides to reside in Rome but refuses to visit his mother.

1983

Years later Matteo walks into that same library and sees Mirella for the second time. They fall in love, and one evening, make love in a car. Eventually he pushes her away.

1983 December

Mirella meets with Matteo with news for him, but he behaves so harshly to her that she does not tell him that she is pregnant with his child. On New Year's Eve, Matteo decides to finally visit his mother. Everyone is there to celebrate. Instead of waiting for the traditional toasts, however, Matteo decides to leave early and, at midnight, jumps off the balcony of his apartment and kills himself.

The family is devastated by the tragedy. No longer motivated, Nicola's mother quits her teaching job and lives a life in solitude in Rome. Nicola, feeling that he could have saved Matteo and not wanting to make the same mistake again, arranges for the capture of Giulia to prevent her from killing someone else or from getting killed. She is sentenced to 17 years in jail. During her jail term, Nicola visits Giulia and proposes to her but is rejected.

1992 spring

Nicola finds a photograph of Matteo taken by Mirella. He is encouraged by Giorgia to meet with Mirella which, after some hesitation, he agrees to do. When he meets Mirella, Nicola learns about her son (Andrea) and that Matteo was the father. Nicola breaks this exciting news to his mother and they visit the boy in Sicily. Inspired by new meaning in her life, Nicola's mother decides to stay with Mirella and her grandson. She will die there, some years later.

Meanwhile, Sara, now in her early twenties, is still struggling with the poor choices her mother has made. She decides to move to Rome to study art conservation and becomes engaged to Mimmo. During this time, Nicola finds out his mother has died and, as a result, travels to Sicily to visit Mirella and pay his respects.

2000 spring

Having finally moved past the death of Matteo, Nicola and Mirella fall in love. Sara, now happy and strong, is encouraged by Nicola to confront her mother and try to patch things up. Giulia, now out of jail and in desperate need of love, embraces Sara, but is not ready to open up completely.

2003

The movie ends with Matteo's son, Andrea, visiting Norway, specifically North Cape, which is where his father and Nicola ventured to go at the beginning of the movie, but never completed their journey.

See also

• List of longest films by running time

Sources

• Sandro Petraglia & Stefano Rulli (2004). La meglio gioventù, un film di Marco Tullio Giordana, Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana. ISBN 88-397-1269-0

External links

• The Best of Youth at the Internet Movie Database
• The Best of Youth at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Best of Youth at Metacritic
• The Best of Youth at Box Office Mojo