Bellocchio’s most personal work, this deeply engaging documentary digs into his family’s past, centering on the death of his twin brother by suicide more than 50 years ago.

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This would make such a good companion piece to Safe Place (2022), Croatia’s official submission to the Oscars for Best International Picture. 

Losing a loved one to suicide is one of the most devastating things that could happen to any family, and in Marx Can Wait, highly-respected Italian director Marco Bellocchio digs into his family’s past—of more than 50 years—to the time of his twin’s brother suicide. 

In what could be his most personal work, this deeply engaging documentary is not just an intimate family affair as Bellocchio interviews (and is interviewed by) his relatives, but also a window into an era of political and social awakenings. 

This is the time of the Bellocchios’ youth, the 1960s, a decade full of tumult and vitality.  Marco has just made Fists in the Pocket (1965) and enjoying newfound success with his acclaimed first feature, whilst his brother Camillo, anxious and unsure of his future, looks on with envy. 

“I think he might have experienced feelings of not being sufficiently seen.”

The subtle signs had been there for Camillo’s declining mental well-being but it had not been easy picking them up.  How can such signs be picked up when one is not even oriented to the possibility of the silent killer taking root in the people we love? 

As the title hints, political ideology can wait; well, how can one take care of the world’s problems when the individual is lacking in the very same care? 

An emotional piece of documentary filmmaking, Marx Can Wait may come as a surprise that something so nondescript and unadorned in approach can be so affecting and compelling.  One can only imagine how cathartic the making of this film would have been for the filmmaker and his family.

Grade: A-

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