Sciascia uomo di cinema

Abstract

The relationship between Leonardo Sciascia and cinema is multifaceted and inherently contradictory. This work touches upon two main trajectories in this relationship: Sciascia as a spectator and film reviewer, and the adaptation of Sciascian novels.Sciascia’s writings on cinema, along with the accounts of his contemporaries, help to trace the beginning of the author’s relationship with the new art form. Initially, cinema brought about phenomenal discoveries (to include Luigi Pirandello’s work), for Sciascia and other young Sicilian enthusiasts, and was fundamental for their education. Sciascia was a very avid filmgoer during his youth but, over the years, his fervent cinephilia waned, and was replaced by an equally strong fascination with the cinema as a locus of memory and reflection. After this analysis, the essay then turns to the many Italian films that have adapted Sciascian novels. Indeed, Sciascia’s work has provided quite many narratives for an entire generation of filmmakers, and for an equally significant portion of politically engaged Italian films.Finally, the essay focuses on the cinematic quality of Sciascia’s novels, as well as on the unique character of his detection narratives which constantly challenge the relationship between appearance and reality, between seeing and believing -- a question and a dilemma which lie at the very heart of cinema itself.

Keywords

• memory
• image
• adaptation
• engaged cinema
• detection cinema