It was not my aim to devote myself to the character of Giuliano, but rather to find out about Sicily, the people’s values, the human tragedy born out the relationship between Giuliano and the other Sicilians, between Giuliano and the police, between Giuliano and the real Italian politics of the time. It was inevitable that Giuliano would be made into a myth, because without analyzing the character in depth it meant that he would have to be mythologized. It is logical, after all Giuliano was a myth and it was my intention not to destroy the myth, because I was not personally interested in him, and was not interested in destroying his myth either. I wanted, instead, to talk about Sicily. What made me really happy, in fact, was that Sicilians and Sciascia, whom I regard with the highest esteem, acknowledged that Salvatore Giuliano was the first true film about Sicily. […] The facts gave me two possibilities, first of all to help the viewer understand the events through emotions, by showing the corpse. Secondly, to connect all the facts in the development of a trial where all the contradictions were relived as were seen before.

Francesco Rosi