Abstract

This essay begins with Lawton's correlation between "La battaglia di Algeri" (Pontecorvo, 1966) and "Salvatore Giuliano" (Rosi, 1962), in order to investigate if and how a colonialist aspect, connected with the idea of governmental criminality, can be recognized in Rosi's movie. The analysis is conducted from a twofold perspective. On one hand, through the analysis of narrative and historical patterns related to Giuliano, Sicily, and Southern Italy; on the other hand, by isolating some technical aspects that the two movies share, in order to question whether they are used with the same approach and purpose by the directors.