Let's go to the Movies — at the Chapel Hill Public Library
Join us on Sunday December 18 at 2:00 pm in the Meeting Room on the lower level of the Chapel Hill Public Library for a showing of Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). Hailed as one of the most beautiful epics ever produced, Luchino Visconti's 1963 historical drama is an Italian equivalent to Gone with the Wind. Set in Sicily during the tumultuous Garibaldi revolution, Il Gattopardo stars Burt Lancaster as the melancholy Prince of Salina -- the aging aristocrat "leopard" of the title -- who accepts change as inevitable during the struggle for a unified Italy. Giusseppe Rotunno's masterful cinematography, representing the pinnacle of painterly beauty, is matched only by the authentic splendor of the film's impeccable production design. The climactic, hour-long ballroom scene -- called "one of the greatest of all passages in movies" -- is utterly breathtaking. Anchored by Lancaster's performance and the romantic pairing of Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, Il Gattopardo is sheer perfection. In Italian with English subtitles. Running time: 185 minutes.