My wife and I had been looking forward to this family epic, mostly because everybody seemed to lapse into hyperbole while describing it.
Well... There's certainly nothing wrong with La Meglio Gioventu, but we did wonder what the fuss was all about. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's a made-for-TV mini-series masquerading as a 6-hour movie; this means the story lines are sweeping, but the production values are not. The actors are so-so, and it should be noted that "Italian" does not equate "arty" or exclude "soapy". Really, you could splice together 6 episodes of "North & South" and achieve similar results.
Our advice: if you're into European family histories, see the German series "Heimat" instead. This actually is the cinematically brilliant, absorbing, life-changing experience La Meglio was cranked up to be.
Well... There's certainly nothing wrong with La Meglio Gioventu, but we did wonder what the fuss was all about. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's a made-for-TV mini-series masquerading as a 6-hour movie; this means the story lines are sweeping, but the production values are not. The actors are so-so, and it should be noted that "Italian" does not equate "arty" or exclude "soapy". Really, you could splice together 6 episodes of "North & South" and achieve similar results.
Our advice: if you're into European family histories, see the German series "Heimat" instead. This actually is the cinematically brilliant, absorbing, life-changing experience La Meglio was cranked up to be.