Sicily!

(Sicilia!, Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Italy/France 1998, 66 min., 35mm, Italian w/subtitles)

Jean-Marie Straub + Danièle Huillet. Based on Elio Vittorini’s 1939 novel Conversations in Sicily, which was banned by the Italian Fascists, Sicily! is a four-part “road movie.” Shot in gorgeous black and white, it follows Silvestro, an immigrant returning home to the island of Sicily after spending fifteen years in America. At the time of its release, Le Monde labeled Sicily! as “perhaps the greatest anti-fascist film in the history of cinema,” and the famous German writer Peter Handke declared it to be the pinnacle of Straub/Huillet’s illustrious career.