Brigands: The Quest for Gold

Not a political piece by all means and still enough to throw in a panic fit the official italian storiography about italian unification. The background that many might think is exagerrated for cinematic reasons is actually a edulcorated version of how things went down. I strongly suggest anyone that wanna go deeper to read Pino Aprile - Terroni. All That Has Been Done to Ensure that the Italians of the South Became "Southerners" that is available translated in english on amazon. You'll find out that the first concentration camp on european soil werent the nazi but northern italian deporting sicilians. That overall the ethnic cleansing of southern italy obliterated between 500k and 1M people, genocide numbers. That that kingdom of two sicilies had a public debt of one tenth of piedmont kingdom, their monetary system gold backed. Their gold reserves about 10 times those of all the other italian states combined, neaples had the first opera house, the first university and the fist railroad and the industrial infrastructures was on pair and some cases superior to the north. It'll tell how cosa nostra was appointed at police officials by the king and how southerner male suspected of not loving the king with enough vigour were vanished in the north disolved in vat of acid.

It's a giant black hole in italian history that I, as a sicilian only learned in my thirties after being brainwashed as any italian kid into garibaldi and the red shirt and all that fan finction since first grade. So even a decent and entertaining work of fiction (with some solid anchor on characters that really existed) will do in order to question the official historiography and steer some curiosity in many who claim italian ancestry across the globe but arent aware why their ancestor mass migrated at once when prior to 1865 not a single sicilian had left the island.

Wife & I watched this little gem we both really enjoyed the storyline, unsure why there is not better ratings? 🙄

OK let's start with similar movies / shows. Vikings / Peaky Blinders are similar, if you liked them this may be a watch for you.

We have the pretty girls & the Good versus Bad scenario with a totally different bunch of characters you need to follow and relate to.

This Starts a tad bit slow while character development plays out, eventually it becomes very enjoyable on a grand scale, both the wide and I really hope for a second season - Yes this closed nicely but the setup for a second season was totally amazing on a grand scale, we have multiple women scorned, we have treasures missing oh my this is ripe with upcoming enjoyment if we get a second season. .😉😉😉 Hint Hint we need a second season.

Have you a few hours to spend watching tv? Then try this one.

The acting is enjoyable (we're surely not speaking of Oscar winning actors, but the play is well done, definitely several steps ahead the typical Italian way of playing Italian actors had a few decades ago.

The location is a beautiful one, the music is excellent and the cinematography is finally more than appropriate.

The plot and the pace are both good.

There are several (too many) historical mistakes in the show. From the weapons, to the social society of the time, to the way the army was organised, to the way the law was respected, the accent of the characters... let's say that some mistakes are actual functional to the plot, others simply don't influence anything, but others could have been easily avoided and should have been avoided.

All in all is a worth see, especially because it's set in a time and place that is not often showed on video.

It was well worth the watch. At first the storyline is a bit unclear. But gradually it improves. But far more important is the cinematography. It is like watching baroque paintings. The landscapes and sceneries are stunning. The red and orange for the bandits, the bright blue for the army, the grey for the village. It is a visual spectacle. There is also the music. It plays an important role in this series. So do not bother too much about a storyline, just watch it as a series of old paintings put together. Enjoy the visuals and this series will not let you down. You should watch it on a widescreen.

Somehow unusual for the Italian cinema, a period drama like this one is interesting but not without flaws.

I particularly enjoyed the pace, the acting, the music, cinematography, and the beautiful locations (Puglia, Italy).

It is evident the idea of adding to a kind of basic storyline (hunt for a lost treasure) a bit of flavour with a bunch of different characters, and a With the people for the people philosophy (mix between la revolution and Jan's bandits).

The screenplay and the characters are probably the least interesting elements. There's not enough screen time to give everyone the characterization deserved and the it is also missing a bit of XIX century grandeur with all the story centered around a small villge in the south of Italy (probably too complex to show big cities like Naples or Palermo).

Having said that the drama remains in my opinion worth watching not because explain a part of Italian history that is frequently underestimated but because it is fun, well acted and, in the end, entertaining.