If now Rocco and his brothers is considered a masterpiece, the film sparked controversy. The black and white cinematographic work traces the story of a mother and her four sons fleeing the misery of southern Italy to join the oldest child in Milan. The matriarch is far from suspecting that family harmony will fall apart, two of the brothers having fallen in love with the same young woman. Screened at the Venice Film Festival in 1960, Luchino Visconti's film, which takes place in Italy in the midst of economic change in the 1950s and 1960s, has been attacked by censors several times. The controversy was such at the release of the film that the members of the jury in Venice were pressured so that the supreme award, the Golden Lion, was not awarded to the film. Successful pressures since the film will not receive the precious sesame.
The controversy around Rocco and his brothers
The scandal erupted around a particularly difficult scene in the film. During the story Simone, played by Renato Salvatori, violates the character of Nadia, interpreted by Annie Girardot, in front of the one she now loves: her brother Rocco, embodied by Alain Delon. As the scene ends with a terrible fight between the two brothers, it shocked the audience enormously with its violence. While drastic cuts were demanded on several occasions, the vigor of the debates aroused anger and indignation. It was not until 1969 that censorship confirmed the ban on the film for children under 18 in Italy. In 1979, a shortened version was developed for television. Today, an original version of the film has finally been restored.
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