'Il Gattopardo': Italian institute to celebrate Tomasi

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/21/2007 11:36 AM  |  Life

Camelia Pasandaran, Contributor, Jakarta

""We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, the Leopards, jackals and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.""

This is said by Don Fabrizio Corbera, the main character of Il Gattopardo, who must stand in the face of the Italian unification movement that will forever change his life and that of his dying artistocratic family.

Il Gattopardo, or The Leopard, is probably one of the most significant films to come from Italy, adapted from the famous novel of the same title by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. The film version -- which won the 1963 Palme d'Or at Cannes -- was directed by Luchino Visconti and features an international cast that includes Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Giuseppe Tomasi's death, The Italian Institute of Culture will be screening the film at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 23. Jakarta.

The film revolves around the family of Don Fabrizio (Burt Lancaster), also known as Prince Salina, who live in Sicily at the end of the 19th century. He is a benevolent man who barely adapts to the changes occurring between the static, aristocratic world and the emerging modern one.

Fabrizio faces another problem in the fate of his daughter, Concetta (Lucilla Morlacchi), who was to marry her cousin, Trancedi Falconeri (Alain Delon).

But this plan crumbled after Trancedi meets Angelica Sedara (Claudia Cardinale), a 17-year-old girl who has just returned from Florence and the daughter of the wealthy Don Calogero Sedara, who has made his fortune as a merchant.

Trancedi with his handsome looks, ambition and vitality is the epitome of the rising modern generation and society; his opportunistic marriage to Angelica is a symbol of the era's historical development in which the aristocracy is left behind.

How Prince Salina adapts to this unfavorable situation illustrates the moral of the film. While his family continues in their aristocratic ways, Fabrizio must face the truth in something Trancedi said: ""If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.""

Those who have already seen the movie laud the cinematography of Giuseppe Rotunno that wonderfully portrays the landscape and architecture of Sicily, especially the Salina palace and its rooms. Admirable, too, is the amazing, realistic costume design. For example, the costumes become dusty when worn on a journey, just like real clothes worn by real people.

The ballroom dance scene and soundtrack also deserve mention. The latter was created by the Italian movie soundtrack composer, Nino Rota.

It is not surprising that The Leopard this movie won top awards for cinematography, costume design and production design from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. It also received an Oscar nomination for Best Color Costume Design.

Director Visconti won the best director award at Cannes and from the Italian film journalists' syndicate.

The Italian Institue of Culture will screen the original 2.5-hour version of Il Gattopardo/The Leopard -- generally seen only at film festivals -- in Italian with English subtitles.

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