An impoverished widow and her five sons migrate from rural southern Italy to Milan, seeking opportunity in the industrial north. As the brothers struggle to find their footing in a harsh new world, two of them — the gentle Rocco and the volatile Simone — fall for the same woman, a prostitute named Nadia. Their rivalry sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy the family from within. Visconti’s epic masterpiece blends operatic melodrama with neorealist grit, featuring indelible performances from Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, and Annie Girardot.
