Working at a time when Fellini and Antonioni were the darlings of European cinema, Francesco Rosi also scored an international splash with this 1962 fractured biopic of the Sicilian bandit. Shot in a semi-documentary style on historical locations, it begins with Giuliano’s bullet-riddled body and flashes back to the manoeuvrings of Mafia, police and Carabinieri.
Listed by Martin Scorsese as one of his 12 favourite movies, the filmmaking is exemplary, the veracity palpable, as Rosi paints a complex portrait of Sicilian society. Here presented in a 4K restoration.