Grand, explicit, and politicized even by Bertolucci’s standards, this five-and-a-half hour historical epic begins on Burt Lancaster’s estate when his and laborer Sterling Hayden’s sons are born on the same day, and grow to be, respectively, Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu. Their fates stay intertwined as Italy evolves through World Wars. With a cast of thousands, among them The Conformist alumnae Dominique Sanda and Stefania Sandrelli, and a terrifying Donald Sutherland.

In Italian with English subtitles