Sergio Leone: Cinema as Political Fable

"Spectacle, myth, fable. These are the main categories that have traditionally defined Sergio Leone's cinematic production, but it is necessary to underline how much they are fuelled by a profound, layered political interest. Leone's cinema bears witness to a critical outlook both on the subjects it showcases and on its representational means. Far from any militancy and escaping ideological classifications, Leone's perspective is problematic and unreconciled: it is grounded in the co-existence of different elements in a state of perennial productive tension and instability. The adjective 'political' takes on a deeper meaning when it is used to denote the director's ability to narrate and interpret key aspects of Italian identity and history. The abstract quality of his production relies on an original use of different genres, which allows Leone to insert frequent symbolic references to history and then-current events. On the stylistic level, his constant disobedience to classical models and his need to revolutionise forms are motivated by an authorial desire to make films politically, though still within a conception of cinema as an industrial spectacle"--