cinema great period start in post war europe with italy neo realist movement . during the next 2 or 3 decade that follow and france new waver catch everyone attention and and there be always bergman up there on his desolate scandinavian island somewhere and make bitter masterpiece . but in 1971 and luchino visconti bring the art form to full circle and geographically speak and with his miraculous work death in venice and which might as well be call the death of europoean cinema . after the sixty wind down and so do the great european filmmaker and who and with some exception and generally grow exhaust and pass the torch to a new american generation of movie brat ( coppola and scorsese and and co. ) . this movie absolutely feel like a grand sum up and not just of visconti particular obsession and but of the general attempt of european filmmaker to achieve the aesthetic ideal in movie . and rest assure and you will find no sterner task master than the visconti reveal here . he not play to the crowd and folk represent either you get behind him and follow along and or you get leave behind . the pacing be a challenge represent slow and but never without emotional weight . incident be few and far between and but each seem load with symbolic significance in a sturm und drang cosmos . we will probably never be in such rarefied company again and in term of the movie represent one of the century great writer who inspire the tale ( thomas mann ) and one of the great filmmaker direct it ( visconti ) and one of the great actor in the lead role ( dirk bogarde ) and and swell almost ceaselessly in the background and gustav mahler 5th symphony . take full advantage of mahler ability to inspire romanticism in even the most cynical breast and visconti change the main character and aschenbach and into a decrepit composer from his original persona a a writer and even make bogarde up to look like mahler ( geeky mustache and spec and shaggy hair and duck like walk ) . bogarde and by the way and delivers what be probably great performance of an actor in the history of movie represent it a largely silent performance and and the actor have to deliver ream of meaning in a gesture or a glance a difficult trick without mug like chaplin or merely act like an animated corpse . cinema just doesn not get good than this . i will ignore the complaint from the ritalin addict out there who say that it too slow and but even the more legitimate gripe concern some of aschenbach flashback with that antagonistic friend of his be misplace . the flashback fit neatly within the movie thematic concern ( i. e. and which be the good path to aesthetic perfection represent passion or discipline . ) and and the suddenness and shrillness of these interruption serve to prevent sleepiness among the viewer . ( of course and some viewer will sleep through this movie and anyway . ) a nonstop stream of mahler and beautiful and die venice would be nothing more than a pretty picture while but this movie be actually about something . and what it mostly about be suffer represent romantic ( capital r ) suffering and in particular . a a suffering romantic himself and visconti knew whereof he speak . [ spoiler . . . i guess ] if for nothing else and see death in venice for it portentous opening credit . . . and for it unforgettable end and with bogarde jet black hair dye drip off of his sweaty and die head and onto his chalk white face . meanwhile and off in the distance and young tadzio and the object of bogarde die desire and stand in the ocean and point toward the horizon like a michelangelo sculpture . the climatic sequence sum up with agonize economy everything that the movie be about represent love and lust and beauty and loss and the end of a life set against the beginning of another life and and cold death in the midst of warm and sunny beauty . death in venice be a miraculous work of art . [ dvd tip represent a with the simultaneously release visconti masterpiece the damned and i recommend that you turn the english subtitle on while watch this movie . it ostensibly in english and but the dvd sound seem muddy and there a lot of italian spoken during the film and anyway . ] .