It may help to know something of Italian politics while watching My Brother Is an Only Child, but it isn't a requirement. Set in the '60s and '70s, the story follows two brothers, Manrico and Accio. Their sibling rivalry is transferred to the political world. In the end, though, their relationship as brothers is more important than any politics.

While his older brother is a Communist (as most of the family leans), Accio joins with the Fascists. Those political leanings may seem outlandish to us, but they are far less so to an Italian audience. They represent the extreme left and right of the spectrum. So for Accio this may well be more an act of independence and rebellion than a pure philosophical preference. Indeed, as the film moves through the years, Accio's views change and in time he rejects the violence and the closedmindedness of the Fascists.

Accio is really the central character of the film. It is seeing his growth and change through the years that gives the film its character. From his rebellious Fascist period, to his more mature way of looking at the world, we see how earlier, youthful choices can be reconsidered as we learn more of the way the world works.

Accio is attracted to big ideas. When the film opens he is on his way to seminary to study for the priesthood. Manrico undermines this by giving him a picture of a movie star; Accio's hormones and guilty conscience do the rest. After dropping out of seminary he returns home, but the next big idea that he comes across is Fascism. Later he is closer to his brother's Communist leanings, but not with the same fervor as Manrico has or as Accio had about his earlier beliefs.

We see less on Manrico because he is becoming more and more involved in the more violent side of politics. While Accio is settling down into a more sedate life from his bullying Fascist years, Manrico is disappearing into the underground.

The driving force in the brothers is their desire to make the world a better place. For Accio that begins with the Church, then moves to Fascism, then to Communism, but always within the bounds of a certain decency of behavior. Manrico become less patient with the processes of transformation and eventually seeks to force change.

The lives of these two brothers are constantly going in different directions, although from time to time they end up connecting. In this the film is like the Italian TV miniseries The Best of Youth, which was also written by Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli. In that miniseries, the story has more time to develop. In this film, we note the development, but it isn't really given the time it takes for us to fully understand how the brothers are going apart and together at the same time. Even though they have different directions they also share a common bond that we only see the depth of when crisis comes.

While it may be a challenge for American viewers to get a grasp on the complicated Italian politics, the story of these brothers and the eventual discovery of what politics can and cannot do is what is central to the film. To make the world a better place, as both Manrico and Accio were trying to do, can often lead us not to bettering the world, but rather adding to the suffering of the world. Both brothers get lost for a time in their way to a better world. Only one finds the way back.