Just Curious

Il Gattopardo (1963)

Saw Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard" over the weekend. It was essentially "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" set in post-unification Italy (1870-).

Here we have Prince Fabrizio de Salina (played by the magnificent, stately Burt Lancaster), the "Leopard," the archetypical aristocrat, the ultimate Hegelian master; and his nephew, a "sneaky little shit," to quote Dean Wormer's comment on Niedermeyer in "Animal House," (1978) bourgeois-politician-wannabe and former-master-turned-slave (played by the impeccably handsome yet slimy-looking Alain Delon.) The story was about the bowing out of the old landed aristocratic class from the historic stage in Sicily. I'm not surprised at all that this movie should come from Visconti, who was himself an aristocrat-turned-Marxist.

Latte liberal historic commentary? Perhaps. In fact I have yet to see one single Italian filmmaker who'd made a name for herself who's not a coffee-shop Marxist. Visconti, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Pasolini. Name any important Italian director and I'll demonstrate to you the pinkness of his soul. In fact, the same applies to most European directors. Bunuel, Goddard, Truffaut. You name it. I'm sure Goddard's heart was secretly bleeding when the Berlin wall finally came down, and when Pol-Pot his former classmate was finally brought down.

But to a certain degree how gorgeous a movie is is all that I care. As long as a director doesn't bore me with random junk (E.g. Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" which I found incredibly boring and impenetrable...no pun intended) that I can't understand, I'm fine with it.

posted by James Chang @ 9:12 PM