Genre:
Crime, Drama, World Cinema
Distributor:
Arrow Video
BD Release Date:
29th September 2014 (UK)
Rating:15
Director:
Francesco Rosi
Cast:
Frank Wolff, Salvo Randone, Frederico Zardi
Buy:Salvatore Giuliano [Dual Format DVD & Blu-ray]
Francesco Rosi is often forgotten in terms of Italian Neo-Realism, but his work is just as vital as Vittorio De Sica or Roberto Rossellini. It may have to do with the fact he came slightly after the initial wave of Neo-Realism and is sometimes considered a part of a “Post Neo-Realism” alongside directors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Gillo Pontecorvo.
His two most well known films Hands Over the City and Salvatore Giuliano have been recently remastered on Blu-Ray in the UK. The latest release is Salvatore Giuliano, which is quite possibly his masterpiece. Martin Scorsese has cited the film as one of his twelve favourite films ever.
The film is about the bandit Salvatore Giuliano who is rarely ever seen on-screen but his presence is always felt. The film opens with his suspicious death on the streets of Sicily. The rest of the film jumps back and forth in a time in a non-linear fashion, telling the story of the separatists who hired Salvatore and other criminals to do their bidding. The film ends with an exhilarating courtroom scene after Salvatore’s death - will the truth finally come out and will the criminals be pardoned after Sicily is declared independent?
The film moves with urgency that Hands Over the City also has but it plays around more with the medium of cinema. It somewhat owes something to Citizen Kane which the idea of Giuliano’s friends, family and enemies tell the story after his death and how it’s told in a non-linear fashion. It also very much predates the docudrama approach Gillo Pontecorvo took with his masterpiece The Battle of Algiers.
It’s a mesmerizing piece of Italian cinema that has received a gorgeous 4K transfer, which shows the film in the best possible quality. The disc includes an hour and a half of interviews and documentaries, which delves deep into the career of Francesco Rosi but also the true life story of Salvatore Giuliano. It seems Arrow has released the definitive package of this classic film.