This very personal film, of surprisingly epic proportions, spans 40 years in the lives of two Italian brothers. In Rome during the summer of 1966, Nicola and Matteo Carati are brothers trying to decide what the future holds for them. Matteo seems the child chosen for greatness, as he is a brilliant student. Nicola surprises himself by doing well on final exams. In celebration, they plan a trip to northern Europe before post-graduate studies begin, much like American youth head to Italy, England, Germany, France and Switzerland to live in hostels and travel with Euro Rail passes.

A chance encounter brings a girl named Giorgia into their lives, and she will reappear again, like the random pattern on a tapestry. While studying psychiatry and working at a local mental hospital, longhaired, seemingly idealistic Matteo is assigned to take the beautiful young woman Giorgia for a therapeutic walk. She appears to be lost to the world, never to function as a normal person. As he gets to know her, Matteo sees a ray of hope that the doctors don’t and when he realizes she is being subjected to electric shock treatments, he kidnaps her from the institution. He and Nicola try to help Giorgia find her family. Eventually, she is returned to the institution and it’s about this time that Nicola and Matteo go their separate ways.

Matteo joins the military and later becomes a police officer. The path for Nicola is to become a doctor and family man. During the 1968 protests in Turin, shortly after the major flood in Florence, Nicola meets Giulia, a vibrant young woman determined to change the world for the better. He falls in love with her and they have a daughter, Sara. Giulia becomes involved in the Red Brigade, an organization intent on overthrowing the Italian government. She is arrested and sent to a maximum-security prison and we don’t know if she will ever be a free person again. When young Sara grows up, what if any relationship will they have?

Matteo is a man that appears to have a mission, which he seems driven to achieve. First in the military and then as a policeman he struggles to maintain order in his life. His one real chance at a meaningful relationship and possibly life itself is with the vivacious Mirella. Her involvement in the story quickens the heart. It also results in a shocking moment of truth for Matteo.

The brothers’ mother Adriana is a matriarch that is refreshingly different from how almost all Italian mothers are portrayed in American movies. Adriana Asti is the epitome of nuance in the role. The writing is exceptional and the acting is superb in the film. This is storytelling at its best. The cinematography is gorgeous. Even though the outdoor photography often has the grainy look of digital film, it is splendid. The images throughout the film create the mood of the time (historically) and the various walks of life of the people in Italy.

Because "The Best of Youth Parts 1 & 2" are each lengthy (we do consider this as one film), the filmmakers are able to dig to just the right depth on many of life’s major challenges. Originally the film was shown on Italian television, in six one-hour segments. How do we learn to put painful events in the past so we can have the prospects of a joyful future? It’s unusual to feel the emotion of various generations connect as Nicola is able to do by the end of the film. He is a college student as the film begins and by the time the end credits roll, he has become a grandfather.

Life can be a soap opera, and this film has some of those elements. It also has a number of very tense moments, as when it appears that Giulia and Matteo are on a collision course and he may be the person to actually capture or kill her.

This is movie making with purity that spans five generations of an Italian family. Historical in nature, this film reflects the turbulence of the times, reflected in the lives of these characters: the false promise of youth, a determination to improve the status quo, a crisis of identity. There is a Mafia killing, though this is about 1/10^th of 1% of the subject matter of the movie. Italian-Americans in particular will enjoy seeing an important part of their history with a focus on a family who are not criminals or stereotypes.

The character development in the film is so absorbing that by the time Part 1 ends, you feel you are part of the family because you know these characters so well (and we were anxious for Part 2). Truthfully, we preferred Part 2, but together they create one masterful saga. This film is an example what critics mean when they say a bad film can’t be too short or a fine film too long.