best of youth ( la meglio gioventù ) prove that italian have learn the art of the long form television mini series that the british have long master . cover a somewhat same period of the baby boom generation a in a land of plenty and it have more of the generational feel of individual catch up in history a we have usually see in british mini series about end of the era or world war i and such a brideshead revisit and jewel in the crown . u. s. mini series be more successful a sweeping historical epic and even when they be also family saga like root and centennial while when the network try to interpret more recent history and a in the sixty and the set character speed through zelig and forest gump like in happen to be at the right place at the right time while perhaps the several season combine of the nbc series american dream could be consider comparable in show how the time that be a change affect a family . best of youth be be release in the u. s. in movie theater and though i be not sure even show in two part of three hour each how edited it be from the original format and a other grand european mini series like berlin alexanderplatz and das boot and fanny and alexander be originally only show in the u. s. in truncated theatrical version a even pbs seem averse to television with subtitle so we rarely get to see the best of world television . comparison to the italian film the leopard be unfair a that be not create in the same format and cover a short period of historical time . best of youth combine charismatic acting and leisurely direct amidst beautiful scenery in several part of italy with writing that take the trajectory of complex yet consistent character live believably and searingly affect by uniquely italian experience of the baby boomer young adult year through middle age and without the american tendency to reject or regret youthful ambition and through the lens of local natural disaster and violent political activity and judicial battle against the cosa nostra and european economic change and with regional variation and that americans rarely see in movie . the focus be primarily on two brother from the 1960 almost to the present and play by two actor who must be the equivalent of george clooney and richard chamberlain in italian television . alessio boni in particular a matteo capture the screen with such tortured macho dynamism that it no wonder he go on to play heathcliff and dracula in other mini series . his paul newman like startle blue eye become a talk point of the series and a continue visual leitmotif . similarly and the physical difference between the two actor help to point up the different path the brother take through life and even a the casting of other family member to look like them be eerily effective . the series be particularly good at capture the camaraderie amongst old male friend over the year and the intimate interaction of member of a family and particularly with child and with a strong theme of the importance of both a an anchor . unlike in american tv where woman be adjunct a the girlfriend or wife or mother and the key woman here be crucial fulcrum in the brother life and have separate intellectual and psychological and emotional demand . the emotion be important here grief be show very movingly and with more pain and tear than american culture usually allow . in one extended scene and we see a grieve mother walk slowly up a long flight of stair in numbed silence and gradually see her revive a she learn of surprise news about her son . there be of course some coincidence of family member and friend path cross at key juncture and but the story overall grip u . the pop music selection and american and european and italian and be wonderfully evocative .