Sequel Idea

> That wasn't a sequel that was a completely different film that took place in Emilia not Sicily.

It is meant to be some sort of a sequel in a way that it follows the thematic of Il Gattopardo, meant to be a "national cinema" kind of epic following the historical and socio/political development of the Italian society. After the period depicted in Il Gattopardo comes in the era of the bourgeoisie.

> And yeah i know it is almost impossible to fill Lancaster's shoes

Not to forget that it is impossible to fill in the shoes of the last of the Visconti family, and there won't be much meaning to follow directly the story of this either. The era of the aristocracy is ending with Il Gattopardo and the symbolic death of Don Fabrizio at its end, while the conscious follow up Bernardo made (and he was conscious about that, made it clear by casting Lancaster), Novecento, is not about the aristocracy which disappeared from the mainstream of the Italian society, but the newly coming emerging classes--the bourgeoisie and its decay (Alfredo and his family), and the working class common people emerging (Olmo).

Nevertheless Bernardo is a very conscious Marxist as Luchino was, and they share similar politically critical vision. Indeed, if you see the two films continuously, it almost follows in a textbook manner what Marx analyzed about the development of European society, and the concept of struggles of classes.

In a way, the two are patching up what Rossellini could not fully realize with Viva L'Italia! and Anno Uno, as well as with quite a few films he planed but never could make. These two are going deep into the emotional grudges that Rossellini was not very interested in.

While Luchino was the last of one of the biggest aristocracies in Italy, Bernardo is very self-conscious of his bourgeois background. He also stated many times against the critics who compared him with Visconti that he was very different and could never do the same as he was from a bourgeois families while Luchino was a huge aristocrat.

Lanpedusa is very self-indulgent while Luchino Visconti is very auto-critical when using Di Lampedusa's writing as a way to express his own complex and contradictory sentiments about being a Marxist and the last of the greatest aristocratic family.

While Il Gattopardo is about Sicily and seemingly takes their sides, the Viscontis are from Milan, from the north, hence the oppressive invaders, and Luchino had always been conscious on how the north had been exploiting the south since the reunification. That bitter sentiment and auto-criticism is clearly reflected in this film--as he already had continued to work on since La Terra Trema, then Rocco e i suoi fratelli.

What is interesting with the film Il Gattopardo is that, while the book by Lanpedusa was awfully outdated, conservative and self-indulgently nostalgic, obsolete, Luchino could make a very faithful adaptation while updating the whole thing completely in its socio/political conscience, made a very clear conscious statement about the failures of the Italian unification and modernization, but still remaining true to the genuine emotions that Lampedusa nevertheless very well expressed in his book.

By the way, a sequel by itself is very easy to make as the Visconti film is based only on the first half of Lampedusa's book. But right after what is described in the film, the Prince of Salina dies. A sequel can start after his death (though not very interesting and very depressing).

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