From 1966 to 2003 the story of an average Italian family is mixed with the turbulent events of those years. The focus is on the two sons, Matteo and Nicola, who could not be more different, both in looks and personality. Matteo is brooding and tormented, while Nicola is outgoing and "simpatico". He even gets top marks, just because the professor likes him - which is a clever way to show how life can be unfair.
While Matteo's broodiness fits perfectly that awkward age of youth, once he gets past twenty-five he starts to be permanently mean, angry, and resentful. One would hope Matteo was less stubborn and more willing to learn and soften a bit, but he doesn't.
Nicola on the other hand prospers as a psychiatrist who helps the mentally ill to recover outside of the institutions. He became a shrink because of a short encounter with Giorgia, a sensitive, fragile girl he tried to "save" with Matteo, during the fateful summer of '66 and Giorgia comes back into his life many years later, but not in a romantic way.
Despite his being a professional, Nicola gets involved with the unsuitable Giulia, an angry and violent woman who produces a child named Sara but subsequently abandons both Nicola and her daughter to join the Red Brigades. Not only the unfortunate choice of a woman, but Nicola is also unwilling or unable to help Matteo.
The first part is probably the best, while the last episode - I watched this on TV, divided into four episodes - is definitely the weakest and drags down the whole plot: at the end, all women are glorified because of the reproductive power (all the main female characters are mothers, except Giorgia); Sara, despite having resented Giulia for her neglect suddenly forgives her because she's pregnant and mothers should support each other; Nicola hooks up with Mirella, Matteo's only casual flirt that also produced a son and the death of Matteo and Nicola's parents does not cause any grief.
Apart from the excessively cheerful finale, the other main problem is that none of those characters seem to age at all, except Giulia, but she was a terrorist and spent 10 years in jail, so she must look a bit worse than the others. In the course of the first 20 years Nicola gets only a bit of grey hair (still plentiful on his head), Matteo has only a drastic haircut, their parents get only slightly more grey hair and Mirella doesn't age at all. In the end, after 35 years, Mirella still looks exactly as you saw her 20 years previously...
While Matteo's broodiness fits perfectly that awkward age of youth, once he gets past twenty-five he starts to be permanently mean, angry, and resentful. One would hope Matteo was less stubborn and more willing to learn and soften a bit, but he doesn't.
Nicola on the other hand prospers as a psychiatrist who helps the mentally ill to recover outside of the institutions. He became a shrink because of a short encounter with Giorgia, a sensitive, fragile girl he tried to "save" with Matteo, during the fateful summer of '66 and Giorgia comes back into his life many years later, but not in a romantic way.
Despite his being a professional, Nicola gets involved with the unsuitable Giulia, an angry and violent woman who produces a child named Sara but subsequently abandons both Nicola and her daughter to join the Red Brigades. Not only the unfortunate choice of a woman, but Nicola is also unwilling or unable to help Matteo.
The first part is probably the best, while the last episode - I watched this on TV, divided into four episodes - is definitely the weakest and drags down the whole plot: at the end, all women are glorified because of the reproductive power (all the main female characters are mothers, except Giorgia); Sara, despite having resented Giulia for her neglect suddenly forgives her because she's pregnant and mothers should support each other; Nicola hooks up with Mirella, Matteo's only casual flirt that also produced a son and the death of Matteo and Nicola's parents does not cause any grief.
Apart from the excessively cheerful finale, the other main problem is that none of those characters seem to age at all, except Giulia, but she was a terrorist and spent 10 years in jail, so she must look a bit worse than the others. In the course of the first 20 years Nicola gets only a bit of grey hair (still plentiful on his head), Matteo has only a drastic haircut, their parents get only slightly more grey hair and Mirella doesn't age at all. In the end, after 35 years, Mirella still looks exactly as you saw her 20 years previously...