The Best of Youth

Long runtimes seem to irk people for some reason; to this day people still seem to complain about how long The Godfather was for its time. What is it about the length of a film that gets under peoples skin? It’s something I’ve been wondering ever since I got this movie, is how long you have to dedicate to the film really that much of a deciding factor that goes in to if you ever plan to watch it or not? You see the reason that question has been in my head is The Best of Youth carries a six hour story. Time is never a thing that worries me about a movie, it’s if the story is worth watching that gets me to see it or skip it.
The movie is spread over two discs just as the film itself was split in half for its theatrical release. Now with six hours The Best of Youth is able to capitalize on giving the film room to breath and the one downside of that is the first hour purposely is paced the way it is in order for us to get to know the characters. And by the time the first disc is over you’ll feel like one of the family as if they’ve welcomed you with open arms.
The Best of Youth is worth every second. I can’t recall the last time a movie has drawn me in the way this one did, simply put it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in the new millennium, granted that’s only six years but you get my point. You grow such a bond with the characters that when they have tears of joy you do to, and the same is to be said about their sorrow. How many other films can you honestly say that you grew such an emotional attachment to its characters you felt their gripping emotions? This is one of the many positive aspects of the films length, instead of rushing story and character development the slow pace builds a bond that no other movie could compare to.
The movie follows a Roman family over the coarse of nearly forty years (thirty seven if you want to get technical) with the main focus on two brothers, Nicola and Matteo Carati. Both are college students who after finals plan to go on a trip to Norway with two fellow classmates where they would see the world along the way. Matteo who works part time at a local mental hospital takes care of Giorgia, a girl no older than him and when he finds out the hospital is performing electric shock therapy on her he plans to sneak her out and help relocate her with her father.
With Matteo now planning to take Giorgia to her fathers he asks Nicola to help him bring her, basically breaking off the trip the four were going to have. When the three are at the train station waiting for the next train Giorgia is picked up by the police leaving Matteo shattered that he couldn’t help give her the freedom she deserved. Realizing he’s let her down he gives up and turns around, while leaving Nicola at the train station.
After this one event everything that happens after has indirectly happened because of it. The two brothers go their separate ways and lead lives in opposite directions. Nicola after touring the beauty of the world joins in the revolution of the people of Rome. Later he settles down with a family and has a profession as a psychiatrist helping people like Giorgia get better without the use of electric shock therapy. Even bringing fellow doctors down for practicing the barbaric treatment.
Matteo on the other hand enlists in the Army for order and rules fighting against the resistance. He later becomes a photographer for the police. Matteo spends his life fighting his internal struggle to make decision. From the moment he realizes he failed Georgia from setting her free he second-guesses every choice he makes there after. When asked why a guy like him with the upbringing he had would want to sign up he replies simply that he wants someone to make choices for him, he wants rules and guidelines. Where there is no possible way for him to give the wrong answer.
During their youthful days they’re focused on changing the world for the better, to take down the oppressors and look towards the future. As they grow older the more they want to be grounded and find one place they’re comfortable in both a political and physically sense. Only the more they try to get a hold of their future the more it starts to change never giving them a sense of comfort or stability. The key point to the movie is that every choice we make in life effects our future, small or big every decision we make can lead to good or bad and that life is simply dealing with each situation that comes next. And at times through the fog it’s clear that life is beautiful, for all the bad moments it’s worth it to ravish in the good ones.
At it’s core the film is about the family and their journey, not once does the film detract from this but at the same time it instills from time to time key events that shook Italian culture. Things such as the flood in Florence to the Red Brigades movement, the attempted assassinations on judges and even the restructuring of the nations key factories. And unlike films like Forrest Gump where at times it feels like the character is being used as a vessel to make a cultural reference possible, The Best of Youth instead stays front and center on the brothers and their way through life only bringing up the cultural upswing as pure background.
The Best of Youth is one of those films you come by that will leave you in awe days after watching it. It’s that good, director Marco Tullio Giordana has created a masterpiece there’s no doubt about it. When the credits roll and then the six-hour runtime pops in to your head you realize that each moment had reason, everything had a purpose in the film. It’s not six hours long; it’s six hours short because I personally could go another forty years with these characters and the experiences they encounter along the way.