Character Relationship Map: 1900

Characters

• Alfredo Berlinghieri (played by Robert De Niro) — protagonist

  Wealthy landowner's son who befriends peasant Olmo despite class differences. Becomes the estate owner after his father's death, struggles with leadership under fascism, and faces a workers' tribunal...

• Olmo Dalcò (played by Gérard Depardieu) — protagonist

  Illegitimate peasant raised by socialist grandfather Leo. Becomes a labor leader, fighting for workers' rights and clashing with fascist overseer Attila. Saves Alfredo from execution by symbolically a...

• Attila Mellanchini (played by Donald Sutherland) — supporting

  Cruel fascist foreman hired to manage the estate. His psychopathic brutality towards peasants escalates class tensions. He is eventually fired, captured by peasants, confesses to murders in a pigsty,...

• Regina (played by Laura Betti) — supporting

  Alfredo's cousin who shares his upbringing. She is apprehended alongside Attila after the war and imprisoned in the estate's pigsty.

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Alfredo Berlinghieri → Regina (Family Cousin) — Regina belongs to Alfredo's family and shares his aristocratic upbringing.

  The plot states that Alfredo grows up with his cousin Regina.

• Alfredo Berlinghieri → Attila Mellanchini (Professional Employer) — Attila works under the authority of Alfredo's estate ownership.

  After becoming the estate owner, Alfredo's family hires Attila as a fascist foreman, and Alfredo later fires him.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Olmo Dalcò → Regina (Conflict Postwar Adversary) — Their positions diverge during the postwar transfer of power.

  Olmo returns after the war while Regina is apprehended and imprisoned in the estate pigsty during the peasants' reckoning.

• Attila Mellanchini → Regina (Unknown Joint Captive) — The plot places them together as prisoners after the collapse of the old order.

  After the war, Attila and Regina are apprehended and imprisoned together in the Berlinghieri pigsty.

• Olmo Dalcò → Attila Mellanchini (Conflict Class Adversary) — Olmo directly opposes Attila's fascist enforcement of estate authority.

  Olmo becomes a leader among poor farmers, while clashes with Attila intensify because of Attila's cruel treatment of estate employees.

• Alfredo Berlinghieri → Olmo Dalcò (Social Childhood Friend) — Their friendship crosses the estate's rigid class divide.

  The plot states that Alfredo and Olmo grow up together despite their opposite social backgrounds and spend much of their childhood together.

Story Analysis

A lifelong friendship between a landowner and a peasant is tested by class conflict, fascism, war, and the collapse of feudal authority.

Plot Progression

1. Births Across the Divide — Alfredo and Olmo are introduced as friends born into opposite social worlds. Their childhood unfolds alongside labor strikes and the estate's class tensions.
2. War and Inherited Power — Olmo leaves for the army while Alfredo learns estate management. After Olmo returns, Alfredo inherits the estate and the friendship enters a more divided social landscape.
3. Fascism in the Fields — Attila becomes the estate's fascist foreman and abuses the workers. Olmo organizes resistance while Alfredo proves increasingly unable to oppose the forces surrounding him.
4. The Old Order Falls — Attila's atrocities trigger peasant retaliation and his dismissal. After the war, Attila and Regina are imprisoned, while Alfredo faces judgment from the workers.
5. A Symbolic Liberation — Olmo saves Alfredo by declaring the padrone dead and persuades the peasants to surrender their arms. Their final encounter shows that friendship survives even though class divisions remain.