Luke
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CibbuanoThe Leopard
December 18th 2006 10:23
The Leopard (1963)
The Leopard is a magnificent and epic Italian film about the Risorgimento, a period in the 19th century that saw the unification of Italy from various disparate states. Through the eyes of Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) we witness this great upheaval of society in Sicily as the old guard (begrudgingly) makes way for the new.
At the time of this film's creation, Lancaster was coming to the end of his golden era... he had been stretching and pushing his range as much as Hollywood would let him, he had won an Academy Award, and now he had nowhere to go. Then he made this film, an international film that exudes class and pedigree with every frame. After watching this film I truly became a Lancaster fan... he plays this ageing lion with such dignity and integrity, not at all like a Hollywood actor of the 60s deigning to make a European film. It's his performance that drives this film for me, his massive screen presence pulled me along through the film's 3 hours. His work here is a fantastic thing of beauty.
It's not a fast film, it unfolds slowly but strongly over the changing landscape of the new Italy. Salina is firmly of the old aristocracy, and he stands in defiance of the growing capitalist new order in all it's uncouth and ignoble glory. His nephew (Alain Delon), represents the next generation... he fraternises with the new figures in power and mixes freely among them, embracing the new ways but slowly and surely disrespecting the nobility that runs through his blood. It's not quite corruption, but it's something akin to it. The frustration that slowly consumes Salina yields to a weighty sadness in the breathtaking final scenes of the film. The image of this leopard's increasingly fragile mortality in the film's last moments really imprinted itself on my brain, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
'Gorgeous' is a word that I would normally shy away from when describing a film, but in the case of The Leopard I think I'll make an exception. The cinematography of this film is simply gorgeous. Sumptuous even. The eye for detail and historical accuracy is astounding and it will swallow you up if you appreciate this sort of thing. A classic in every sense of the word.
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