Originally conceived as a six hour Italian television mini-series, Marco Tullio Giordana's epic trawl through his country's political and cultural history is released here as a buttock-numbing theatrical extravaganza.
Not for the faint-hearted. Opening in 1966, the film centres on the fates of two brothers, Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and Matteo Carati (Alessio Boni), whose lives take them far away from each other, only to pit them, eventually, on direct collision course. Nicola takes a wife, Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco), who becomes an active member of the Red Brigade terrorists. Meanwhile, the formerly hot-headed Marco learns discipline in the army then enlists as a police officer.