The Blows of Rocco – Splice Today

Luchino Viscontis films are known for their operatic qualities, especially visible in his 1969 The Damned. There, Visconti creates a world of hedonism, ideology, and homoeroticism characterized by over-the-top performances bordering on campy. His earlier film, Rocco and His Brothers (1960) fits into the category of operatic cinema but the difference between that and The Damned is striking.

A film worthy of comparison to Giuseppe Verdis great operas and Dostoyevskys moral and spiritual sagas, Rocco and His Brothers focuses on joy, sadness, and troubles of the Parondi family. Leaving her home in a Southern region of ItalyLucaniaRosaria Parondi and her four sons arrive to the grand city of Milan. The patriarch of the family has died and their life in Lucania was one of misery and poverty. Rosarias oldest son, Vincenzo, lives in Milan and is about to be engaged to Ginetta (played by the beautiful Claudia Cardinale). Rosaria and Vincenzos brothers (Simone, Rocco, Ciro, and Luca) burst in on the celebration, which turns sour.

They find themselves practically homeless, missing their beloved Lucania. At the beginning, they find some ways to flourish: Simone trains to be a boxer, Rocco (Alain Delon) enters the army, and Ciro completes his schooling and finds a job at a near-by Alfa Romeo factory. The contrast between the seemingly idyllic peasant life in Lucania and an increasing coldness of the industrialization adds to the familys longing to be back home.

The family appears to be tight-knit until Simone begins his descent into debauchery and alcoholism. Although hes a talented boxer, he lacks discipline to get better and win. Hes a thief, who regularly scams women. Simone develops a relationship with a prostitute, Nadia (Annie Girardot) but this love affair is doomed from the beginning. Nadias a jaded woman, who considers her relationship with Simone transient. Hes just a place holder until another man comes along.

During Roccos time in the army, Nadias arrested and spends time in jail. They run into each other, and exchange a few words at the caf. But something deeper happens in this moment. Rocco breaks through her indifferent demeanor and tells her to not be afraid. Hes at peace with his life, and assures her that one can choose the life one wants to live. Despite Nadias skepticism, she finds faith in Rocco and the two begin a love affair.

In the meantime, Simone finds out about this affair and decides to enact violent justice against Rocco and Nadia. Catching them in an embrace, Simones enraged and demands an apology. In a fit of pure hatred, he fights his brother and rapes Nadia, while Roccos forced to watch.

This is the breaking point not only for Rocco and Simone but also for the entire family. Rocco sacrifices his relationship with Nadia in order to preserve the family structure. In addition, he becomes a slave to boxing in order to pay off Simones debts, who ends up going to jail for Nadias murder. Ciro maintains strength intent in finding success in Milan, and Luca, the youngest, vows to return to Lucania with Rocco. This longing is one last hope that peace will be restored in the Parondi family.

Rocco and His Brothers is a gripping film (it serves as the great inspiration to Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola). Delons Rocco is innocent, just, honorable, just some of the characteristics that render Delons performance sublime. But this inherent wisdom and moderation Rocco has disappears when he tries to (honorably!) save the crumbling foundation of the family. The ethical act turns into passionate aimlessness that results in his own private emptiness.

Viscontis vision is primarily about belonging. The Parondi family is uprooted in every possible way, and one bad choice leads to more destruction. Theyve lost their foundation, and the soil they stand on is one of concrete jungle as opposed to the land where olive trees grow. Roccos the one who sees both sides of the world, and is highly adaptable. Delon plays him in such a way as to reveal a man whos an ascetic, dedicated to God. Hes dedicated to Nadia, but decides that a sacrifice is needed in order to set the family on a straight path again.

Roccos nave. His sweetness and belief that people are essentially good and that the strong should uplift the weak (even if it means sacrificing themselves) becomes the very thing that ends up destroying his life. Rocco and His Brothers is essentially a religious film. Although it barely mentions God, and occasionally shows some Italian peasant superstitions, the story of the Parondi brothers is similar to Cain and Abel.

In Genesis, chapter 4, God looks favorably upon Abel and because of this Cain is jealous. God asks Cain why is he angry and dejected? Cain lures Abel into the field and kills him. In verses 9-12, God asks Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He answered, I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?/God then said: What have you done? Your brothers blood cries out to me from the ground!/Now you are banned from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand./If you till the ground, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a constant wanderer on the earth.

Although no brother dies in Viscontis film, the textual allusions remain. The opposite to Cain, Rocco considers himself to be his brothers keeper. For him, justice means that hes responsible for his brother, yet he misplaces this responsibility into personal accountability for Simones vile actions. Rocco turns the other cheek as it were, and sees Simone as one who suffers the most.

Yet, in the end, Roccos sacrifice is meaningless, despite its good intention. He remains caught up in his holiness without even recognizing the goodness in himself. The city of Milan is the untilled and barren soil for the Parondi family, and theyre lost in the new world they inhabit. Will Luca, the one whose innocence is still not overtaken by experience, return to the soil that gave him life? Or is he too, much like Rocco, doomed to be a constant wanderer on the earth?

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The Blows of Rocco - Splice Today