The Way We Laughed

The Way We Laughed

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Movie Reviews of The Way We Laughed

Movie Review: A Stunningly Masterful Telling of an Intimate Story
Summary: 5 Stars

The story is about two brothers from Sicily - Pietro, the younger brother has left home for Turin, Italy creating a life style and appearance of an upper class lad, and the older brother Giovanni who is illiterate, real, warm and a laborer whose life is focused on the pride he feels for his younger brother's intellectual achievements: Giovanni is just arriving in Turin as the film opens in 1958. The story spans 6 years, is divided into six chapters - one day in each of the 6 years - and it is from these short glimpses that we are asked to follow the interaction of the two brothers.

For all of Giovanni's warmth and open love for his younger brother Pietro, the Younger Pietro appears secretive, has odd habits, is quietly deceitful, yet accepts the hospitable and financial love and assistance from his brother. There are long stretches of silence between the brothers about which we are not informed, and events transpire that lead Pietro to become a successful student and Giovanni to become a Padron for immigrants, gradually raising himself to be a married landowner.
In the 5th chapter we see a conflict that involves both brothers and a third 'victim' and it is this unfortunate crime that forever alters the lives of both brothers. This turning point is magnified in the last chapter as the successful Giovanni has just had a son named for his brother and the brother is summoned to his large home in the Po River Valley to stand as Godfather to his nephew. But the change in the once proud Pietro shows a role reversal and while some may consider he has been in an institution for drugs or something else, he actually has been in Reform School, having lost all his joy for life, and now will proceed to prison. Though the reason for his downfall is not clear, it appears in retrospect that he has taken the blame for Giovanni's crime - perhaps the more compassionate standard of brotherly love imaginable. At any rate, the film leaves us with the concept that there is no way to measure the depth of love in familial bonds between two brothers. There is no right, there is no wrong, there is only love.

This is visually a dramatic epic that manages to capture the grit and grime of the living conditions of the poor working class in Turin, the wondrous plays of light in the deserted streets of Turin at night, and the redemptive beauty of the sun-drenched Po River Valley where the films comes to an end. Enrico Lo Verso is amazingly fine as Giovanni, walking with all the pride of Sicily and the humility of the uneducated. As Pietro, Francesco Guiffrida captures every facet of this enigmatic character and slowly wins our compassion for the road he has elected to take. THE WAY WE LAUGHED is a brilliant achievement and another example of the extraordinary work of Italian cinematic talent.