To best appreciate The Leopard, it is important to understand the political undercurrents of the film. Italy, circa 1859, was a fragmented collection of independent states, each controlled by different ruling interests. The Papal states resided in central Italy. Towards the south, King Ferdinand II ruled over the Bourbon states of Naples and Sicily. The Savoy States were ruled by Victor Emmanuel. Austria, after the Napoleonic Wars, had seized control of Northern Italy.
The film takes place during the heart of the Italian Risorgimento, a time of nineteenth-century social upheaval in which the Italian states rebelled against the existing aristocratic order to form a unified and democratic Italy. Burt Lancaster plays Don Fabrizio, the proud yet aging Prince of Salina, emblematic of the old society and yet fully aware that his way-of-life is slowly fading into oblivion. Garibaldi, who is attempting to unite all of Italy into one nation, has landed in Sicily, and even his adored nephew, Tancredi (Alain Delon), who he has fancied to be his successor, has joined his army. The film follows events in the lives of the Prince of Salina and his family.
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Terence Hill
Country: Italy, France
Genre: Drama, History
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