Essential to see the long version

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 1998)

I first saw the two-hour theater release, and felt this was a lame movie, a waste of great talents.
That's because that version should never have been shown. It was some kind of marketing-oriented concept that the movie needed to be short and have a chronological narrative. Well, that concept not only failed to market the film successfully, but it butchered a great, great film
I don't like to throw around the word "masterpiece", but that term is valid for the 227 minute version of the film with the complex interweaving of time periods. However many stars there are in your rating system, this gets them all. Could easily rank among the 100 best films ever made, and may be the single most underrated movie.