A far cry from his neorealist roots, Visconti goes for broke in this extraordinary epic of high camp. History is thrown beneath the steady flow of Freudian pathology, sexual perversity, soap opera theatrics, and Sirkian lighting that Visconti lavishes on his allegorical depiction of Germany’s fall to the Third Reich as seen through the twisted downfall of an aging steel dynasty. It is both deeply troubling and absolutely hysterical. (DVD)