After World War II, as borders were being redefined, hundreds of countries found themselves in social turmoil, leading to attempted revolutions and a few gains. In Sicily, one Salvatore Giuliano was asked to join the resistance against the Italian fascists still trying to hold the land after the completion of the war. Giuliano was mostly successful at upsetting the rule of the fascists, in the meantime garnering the respect and admiration of the populace but developing many institutional enemies. This movie starts on the day of his assassination, then through flash forwards and backflashes analyzes the conspiracy behind how Giuliano came to die. Nothing and nobody is left out of scrutiny, from the fascists to the police to the mob to the resistance to the populace.
This is a piece of political film-making, the type which is an honest document to that post-war trend of social revolution in small countries and the dire consequences it had, not to mention the disturbing connotations felt by the conspiratorial nature of the ultimate fall of revolutionary leaders. The first half of the film shows mostly the historical events as they took place, and then the second half revolves mostly around a trial in which everyone's role in the events are put into question: an intriguing concept in a movie because it undermines the theory of the camera as "all-seeing". Giuliano as a character is never seen except dead. It is impossible to hear what he has to say for himself. We are left only with the history of events and the interpretations of the community and spectators, only that their opinions are subtly twisted by institutional hegemony, the status quo. Sound a little familiar to anything that may be happening today? This is the type of movie that needs reappraisal every few years for re-asking that very same question.
Meanwhile, despite the deconstruction of the role of the camera in recording "the truth", it is nevertheless used to awesome effect: the photography of this movie is absolutely gorgeous. Ironically, all of the action is set against a spectacular Sicilian backdrop that almost overshadows the actions and drama of the minuscule humans that inhabit it. In a way, there's an undertone of the theme of impermanence in the whole movie via the visuals, as the most striking images often involve the lack of humans completely.
--PolarisDiB
This is a piece of political film-making, the type which is an honest document to that post-war trend of social revolution in small countries and the dire consequences it had, not to mention the disturbing connotations felt by the conspiratorial nature of the ultimate fall of revolutionary leaders. The first half of the film shows mostly the historical events as they took place, and then the second half revolves mostly around a trial in which everyone's role in the events are put into question: an intriguing concept in a movie because it undermines the theory of the camera as "all-seeing". Giuliano as a character is never seen except dead. It is impossible to hear what he has to say for himself. We are left only with the history of events and the interpretations of the community and spectators, only that their opinions are subtly twisted by institutional hegemony, the status quo. Sound a little familiar to anything that may be happening today? This is the type of movie that needs reappraisal every few years for re-asking that very same question.
Meanwhile, despite the deconstruction of the role of the camera in recording "the truth", it is nevertheless used to awesome effect: the photography of this movie is absolutely gorgeous. Ironically, all of the action is set against a spectacular Sicilian backdrop that almost overshadows the actions and drama of the minuscule humans that inhabit it. In a way, there's an undertone of the theme of impermanence in the whole movie via the visuals, as the most striking images often involve the lack of humans completely.
--PolarisDiB