User Reviews

I remember this,as one of the most entertaining, yet moving, surprisingly well made, International mini TV series made in the early 1990's through an elaborate co-production of sort. It had a vibrant,diverse cast of wonderful actors,mostly Italian, but, all with an extremely "worldly" look,and,they were all extremely gorgeous, with very good looking features and a very unconventional look:this i believe was a co-production between Italy,Spain,and, Germany,maybe, even more Countries, and,its budget was quite big, and, clearly so, especially,if you think TV! It truly had,and, all the way through, a stronger,and, way more solid story telling and structure, than, even above average TV products, and, while, its strengths ,maybe, were generally more commercial, than films who were dealing, especially then,with such politically charged themes,this one was something you'd be fascinated to watch, and, whose twists and, at times, convoluted plot's developments were always more presented and visualized,in a dense, Film like dramatic unraveling mode, a lot more with images who were clearly thought and made more like for Cinema, than TV's, if you know what i mean! Also, the whole 4 hours (and some) plot felt, a bit like, another, more recent, Italian-French mini TV series,that is also more well known, because eventually was shown theatrically,even in the US, with some success, and, called "The Best of Youth"(2002). This one,however, in more of a 'mystery',and, less political fashion, was very much exploring the lives of some restless, damned youth protesting against the system, in the early to mid 1970's,too. At one point,a series of erratic, and, never quite completely explainable, or resolved disappearances of some of the main leads, was becoming particularly the unnerving core of the whole plot, leaving space for an enigmatic "search" over their turbulent lives, executed, by commands over an order from the Authorities, a while later on, in 1990. So, almost 2 decades later, through the, at first, almost impossible to track down, then more, and, more, progressively surfacing stories,at times, bringing emblematic, even stunning, incredible revelations,an handsome Interpol inspector (who had also a never 'until the end revealed' personal motive) was discovering through a private investigation into the past, a whole new "truth" over the motivations and personal lives of 3 boys and a girl,who had fought to change the World, 2 decades earlier. The inspector, at the beginning, quite resigned himself, was increasingly growing passionate over those people's events, while traveling for information,pretty much all over,and, not always welcomed by some, but, still with the help of a few (at least reachable, if defiant) friends, or relatives of those long believed to be dead, young protesters of another time,ending to make light over what more of a political stand, was finally a more pertinent, incisive portrait, about the unresolved past, of a melancholic group of sensitive, idealistic,and, very much in love, young people. Through the use of always intense,long flashback's (the main part of the whole piece, anyway) we were to find out, with more clarity, about each one of them, and, not as reported, by certain revisionist press of the time, but, just, through their true singular journeys in those complex years of terrorism and revolts against consumerist systems,while, the hope to put an end to the Vietnam's war was becoming a main motive for the most of them. This was indeed a very handsome work, at the time, I believe, not completely appreciated by most, and, accused to be too indulgent with some of the personal stories of the people here portrayed, which i always had thought, instead,as,very sensitively described, while, at the contrary, some critics felt it, at least, back then in 1991 or something, still over 20 years ago,all as it had been made look like "way too sentimental",by being "filmed with an annoyingly way too handsome, almost, pleasant, and, often misleading tone and visual style". That might have even been true,I don't know now, anymore, but, i keep a wonderful memory of it all, and, I wish i was able to see again this wonderfully dark, yet, always spectacular and suspenseful, idealistic and romantic tale of youth and memory, which, was also taking place during such a complex and always fascinating, creative decade like the 1970's: i indeed remember very well, however, that the "period" had been brought to life, with authenticity, and, always with extraordinary realistic attention! That was a great feeling, back then, that added one more, particular, greater reason to make of this TV movie, something i would have never wanted to have missed! Embellishments? Maybe a few, but, over all, the backgrounds were always real, and, so were all the characters portrayed in it, with their, sometime, unexplainable, enigmatic, but always deeply heartfelt life's choices. So,again, what's wrong with that? If, that was indeed the only reason to criticize (as i remember) this wonderful film, then, I truly wish television were all so "embellished" and "sentimentally charged", as this was supposedly perceived back then,in Europe, and, yet I wish they'd still make mini TV series exceptionally created, as much as this one certainly was, these days!