Francesco Rosi

Francesco Rosi was born in Naples on November 15, 1922, and one of his classmates was the current president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano. Although he studied law, his artistic concerns were reflected in his work as an illustrator of children’s books and on the radio in his city. Cinema immediately interested him, and his efforts allowed him to act as an assistant director with Luchino Visconti in La tierra trembla (1948), a film that undoubtedly coincided with his future sensitivity as a filmmaker.

The 1960s and 1970s were undoubtedly the best years for Francesco Rosi, responsible for realistic and committed cinema, with a documentary air, which unapologetically portrayed the most controversial aspects of the social reality of his country. It could be said that because of his concerns, he is part of the same group as colleagues such as Pier Paolo Pasolini , Gillo Pontecorvo or the Taviani brothers . In a way he was the heir to the neorealist movement, something he captured in the portraits of real gangsters and mobsters in Salvatore Giuliano (1962) and Lucky Luciano (1973). He also started from real events in Ana Garibaldi(1952), his debut as a director, which hit him on the rebound, probably due to his excellent script for Bellísima (1951), also with Anna Magnani as the lead. And in The Mattei Case (1972) he was crowned with the Palm in Cannes, for painting the life of a businessman and his contradictions.

Among his tapes of political denunciation, Las manos sobre la ciudad (1963) stands out, which delves into the responsibility of a builder in the collapse of one of his buildings. It is also very beautiful Cristo se paró en Éboli (1979), a lyrical evocation of the tranquility of rural life, an oasis in which to develop while Benito Mussolini reigns in Italy.

A very different film from the usual ones is Carmen (1984), based on Bizet’s opera, where he directed the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo. Although he dared with greats of literature and thought in the last titles of his filmography, he did not manage to shine as much in Crónica de una muerte anunciada (1987), based on the novel by Gabriel García Márquez , and in La trugua (1997), which closes his work in the cinema, and is based on the hard life experience of Primo Levi . In 2008 the Berlin Film Festival honored him with an honorary Golden Bear for his brilliant career.