This is a very good crime thriller with political undertones beautifully shot in Sicily,
directed by the brilliant Elio Petri and with the also brilliant Gian María Volonté in the
main role. He plays the professor Paolo Laurana, a loner, an ex-communist and a
somewhat mysterious person to the local elite, the local gentry. Is he corruptible ?

Paolo is stubborn, honest and maybe a bit too naive, and his role figure resembles
the inspector Rogas played by Lino Ventura in Francesco Rosi's 1976 Illustrious
Corpses (Cadaveri Eccellenti). A film that can be seen as the companionpiece to this
film (but made with 9 years in between) and scenes with a resemblance to each other.
This is explained by the fact that these films are based on novels by the same author
Leonardo Sciascia, "A ciascuno il suo" based on the 1966 "To each his Own" and
"Cadaveri eccellenti" on the 1971 "Il contesto".
They've the same themes as the Mafia, the Politicians, and the Church in cohorts with
each other. The film won in Cannes 1967 for the best script.
For me, the writings of Leonardo Sciascia seems to be interesting, but you better
prepare for Feel Bad about the evils of the Elite ... and this is not Hollywood, here the
evil always win. Just as in real life.

(In the 1970's Italian filmmakers dealt with this theme in a series of fine and openly
political films and often based on the writings of Leonardo Sciascia. Films as:

Damiano Damiani's 1968 "Il giorno della Civetta (The Day of the Owl" or his 1975
"Perché si uccide un Magistrato (How to Kill a Judge)" , Elio Petri's "A ciascuno il suo
(We Still Kill the Old Way)" or Fransesco Rosi's 1976 "Cadaveri eccellenti (Illustrious
Corpses" - Read more about these films on my Cult & Classics and Gialli & Eurocrime
pages)

The Film:

Evil under the scorching sun. A small Sicilian town is plagued by anonymous letters
with threats. The local pharmacist, Antonino Manno (Luigi Pistilli, also in the 1976
"Cadaveri eccellenti") gets his 6th letter and he's scared of the death threats in them.
Who wants him dead, a friend ? Out hunting with his friend Dr. Roscio they're both
shot and killed by unknown men. The murdered men were friends of professor Paolo
Laurana (Volonté), Dr. Roscio was the cousin of the lawyer and politician Rosello
(Gabriele Ferzetti) and the widow of Roscio is beautiful Luisa (Irena Papas).
The police suspects that the motive for the murder is Honor, and they arrest a peasant
and his two sons, as the dead Manno (Pistilli) was a womanizer and lived with his
wife and the 15 year old Rosina, the daughter of the peasant.

Everyone is satisfied with this outcome, except Paolo who starts sleuthing around
for the real motive and the real killers.
The Arch priest Rosello, uncle of upcoming politician Rosello, thinks that pharmacist
Manno deserved to go to Hell for living with and having sex with two women.
Whodunit, who's behind the double killings ?

The film is presented on a blu-ray with a ratio of 1.85:1 and with italian audio DTS-HD
MA 2.0 and english subtitles.
Extra an Italian trailer, a short interview with the writer Leonardo Sciascia, a picture
gallery and trailers of other films