Salvatore Giuliano

Thursday January 4, 2001

Guardian Unlimited



Francesco Rosi, once called the heavy conscience of the Italian cinema, was born in Naples - a possible reason why most of his films are about corruption. His most famous film, though, was made in Sicily.



It is almost certainly the best film about the social and political forces that have shaped that benighted island. It looks almost like a documentary as it traces the career and downfall of Salvatore Giuliano, a bandit who became a legend on the island after his violent death in 1950. Yet the word Mafia is never once mentioned, and Giuliano himself is hardly seen. All the superficial cliches of a well-known genre are thus subverted.