Burt Lancaster plays a true aristocrat, Prince Salina while Garibaldi is invading Sicily with an army of a thousand, landing in Marsala and advancing through Palermo. Prince Salina is a noble of a disappearing age. He refuses a place in the new senate and is unable to convince the new wave that the unification will not be good for Sicily. He is caught between different loyalties. A love story between his nephew ( Alain Delon) and a rich bourgeois merchant’s daughter (Claudia Cardinale) interweaves the action and heightens the moral dilemmas that Prince Salina has to face. In the closing marriage scene awesome Burt Lancaster in tuxedo looks into the mirror and tears well up in his eyes. Majestic grandeur and striking dignity intertwine with elegiac melancholy, grief and regret. The perfect illustration of Friedrich Schiller’s definition of tragedy: “Tragedy is not synonymous with suffering. Rather, tragedy is the futile protest of the individual against inevitable suffering. A brave film, opposing, exposing and opposed by government and church. The full length restored edition is a cinematic gem and the opulent costumes and scenery are a treasure to behold. Don’t miss this masterpiece!