Salvatore Giuliano (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

This is a great movie by a great director, Rosi, which was recommended by my Italian teacher at the time it was only on tape. The whole format of the way the the crime is investigated is brilliantly conceived and executed. I have all of Rosi's films. The Three Brothers is particularly inspiring. I also have the book the movie is based on....well-written

I traveled in this part of Italy and even got close to the town where it took place. Very steep streets made it difficult driving up to the sanctuary where SG is commemorated. I had to walk most of the way. The people were very friendly and helpful in directing me.

The open question remains: How much blame does Guiliano deserve for his massacre of the Communists. He's a complex figure.

The movie is about a massacre that occurred in Sicily. It is a two disc set, one telling the sad story of the event, the other how the director chose to film, using people from the town and only two professional actors. I suggest one watch the movie first, as the acting makes even more sense when you watch the second disc. This introduced a brilliant director that I was unfamiliar with before.

Great deal

After World War II, as borders were being redefined, dozens 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 filmmaking, 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

About 18 years ao I rented this film on a very bad VHS in the 90s and even without captioning and the blurry flatness it was fascinating. Then, recently, after buying a digital TV and this 2-disk DVD, even in black & white (really because of it) it sharply captured the glaring Sicilian sun, the experience. In fact, with my digital TV I noticed the sky seemed very faintly lavender-blue above it all, with some oh-so-subtle pale lemon tints, and each leaf, each house in the village stood out in high relief. You could almost see the wind billowing from Giuliano's distinctive white overcoat. The village below is made of white-hot sugar cubes. I almost wanted to take out a handkerchief and wipe my brow. The only problem I had was often trying to read white captions when they were on very bright white pictures.

This film is more of a documentary because Francesco Rosi chose to film it that way, with the people doing natural things. In Giuliano's village of Montelepre its natives performed in the film, some who knew the legendary hero or criminal--take your pick. Actually, the sole professional actor was the late German-American Frank Wolff, who portrayed "Aspanu" Pisciotta, Giuliano's cousin and second-in command. He resembles Pisciotta (though Pisciotta had tuberculosis and was more frail, from what I have seen in his photos). The villagers speak a pure and very rapid Sicilian dialect and only the judge, lawyers, soldiers, and other outsiders use the familiar Fellini Italian.

The documentary on this legendary Sicilian "Robin Hood" begins with the glaring sun over the corpse of a young, murdered, 28-year-old Giuliano, lying prone in a plaza. Thus begins the saga, in flashbacks, under a blue-white-hot Sicilian sky. The mountains stand out in high relief, the outlaws leap nimbly about the rocks like sheep. The facts then randomly but somehow smoothly and faithfully recreate the outlaw's life. I could not move for the length of the film.

I also enjoyed the commentary, during which, however, Peter Cowley often strays from the plot, as do all commentators, but provides mostly timely information. The second disk contains a thorough and fascinating history of this and other films by Francesco Rosi, whose policy, when directing, seems to be "do your thing" but actually it is carefully staged. In some films directors cannot pull this off, but Rosi accomplished it here. A pity he is gone. I highly recommend this but it should be noted that it is not an American commercial film.

I was not happy with the format and the way the film was presented. Sub title are hard to follow and read as the movie goes on.

The delivery of the item was timely and the product came in good condition.

This movie was quite dull and I regret purchasing it.

Face down in a pair of khakis and a bloodstained white undershirt lays Salvatore Giuliano after having been gunned down by law enforcement in Sicily on a summer morning in 1950. This is the beginning that Rosi portrays as he informs the audience of what happened to Salvatore Giuliano, the infamous bandit and freedom fighter. The film uses flashbacks in order to repaint the truth of the matter regarding what led to Giuliano's death, and the story begins with Giuliano becoming an outlaw by killing a police man in 1943. He was later recruited as a Colonel to support the separatist party as he went on to fight for Sicily's freedom. In Sicily, Giuliano had the reputation of a man that took from the rich and gave to the poor, but on the mainland he was portrayed as an outlaw. When Sicily received its independence all political criminals were given amnesty, but Giuliano and his followers were denounced the right of amnesty. Instead of being captured Giuliano returned to the mountains with his men where they continued to live, but now as bandits. The account that Rosi depicts through his cinematic direction brings the audience back and forth between 1945 and 1950 after Giuliano's death and to a court hearing for Giuliano's group that was tied to a massacre where 11 were killed and 27 were injured. Throughout the court hearing new information surfaces that involves the Mafia, local police, and the Carabinieris, and the evidence suggests that there was something sinister about the death of Salvatore Giuliano.

Under the direction of Rosi the audience experiences a new take on Italian neo-realism as Rosi actually brings the audience to the location of the true events as he tells his filmed version of what happened to Salvatore Giuliano. Rosi depicts the true events with equal proportion from different sides in the story. It never becomes an idolization of Giuliano as Rosi cleverly only uses close up shots of Giuliano when he is dead and the rest of the shots are from a distance where one can never make out his face. However, this adds an element of mystery around Giuliano, which is okay as his true story never can be told after his true memoirs seem to have been stolen. A side note is that Rosi was slightly harassed by the local people and police force, was blackmailed, and had to report what he filmed on a daily basis as he worked. Despite Rosi's struggles in Sicily he mustered his creative skill and filmed a film that has taken a unique spot in film history as it pushes the envelope for political cinema.

Ayant déjà le DVD , j ai acquis le blu ray , un film sur l histoire de la sicile a la sortie de la seconde guerre mondiale . film très intéressant a plus d un titre , je le conseille.

la entrevista con el critico Michel Ciment en los bonus es excelente y evidentemente es una obra maestra del cine italiano

Non poteva mancare questo pezzo unico nella mia collezione. Servizio Amazon perfetto.

C’était l’un des films préférés de Michel Ciment et un véritable tour de force narratif puisque toutes les périodes de la vie de Giuliano sont présentées sur le même plan. On ne voit d’ailleurs pratiquement pas le protagoniste. Les scènes de procès sont incroyables.

Um tipo de cinema que não se produz mais, baseado num personagem real, até hoje desconhece-se o final trágico de Salvatore Giuliano cujo mito foi explorado pela máfia. Entrega GLS da Amazon em 24h