》》"The Leopard - a Novel" by Giuseppe di Lampedusa 確實是本大大有名的書。最近在旅遊雜誌上讀到一篇 Sicily 專訪文章也提到此書。電影背景描繪的情節大致上有歷史根據，主角人物自然為虛構，但多半也有原型為藍本。據說 Prince Salina 之角色是依據 Lampudusa 的祖父（也是貴族）塑造的。
》》1. Risorgimento（義大利語，意為「復興」，故中文將該統一過程稱之為「復興運動」）義大利統一運動，即復興運動是19世紀至20世紀初期間，將義大利半島內各個國家統一為意大利的政治及社會過程。
2. 電影名句 （幾位朋友都提到了）
2.1 "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change." (spoken by Tancredi).
2.2 "We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth." (spoken by Don Fabrizio)
3. 原著名句 （援引二例）
3.1 "The animal had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings." Said the Prince after hunting a rabbit.
3.2 "every coin spent in the world must end in someone's pocket." Said Ciccio Tumeo, the hunting partner of the prince, while talking about Don Calogero.
4. Who/what was the leopard
It seemed the prince was the leopard, not only the leopard was the symbol of his family, also his behavior.
5. Who/what was the jackal/hyena
Bendicò?
In the "book": "Angelica's first visit to the Prince and his family following her betrothal to Tancredi. Dressed beautifully, she makes her entrance with perfect timing, and immediately endears herself to the Prince. Only Bendicò, growling in a corner, seems unhappy to see her. "
"Concetta retires to her bedroom, where she keeps several locked boxes of decaying mementos of her past, including the skin of her father's dog Bendicò, which had been made into a rug and which is now completely moth-eaten."
"Concetta returns to her room, and contemplates her possessions there with new perspective. Even the few relics which she once cherished are now only reminders of a life unfulfilled. She also realizes that an unpleasant smell is coming from what remains of the Bendicò rug, and orders it thrown out."
注一：Bendicò，在書評中被認為是一個極重要的角色。從 prince 的忠狗，到死後成為地毯標本，到數十年後，「臭皮囊」被 Concetta 當垃圾丟棄。她丟棄的其實是包括她家族的一切「狗皮倒灶」。這的確是作者神來之筆，之一。
6. Why lion and sheep?
是有關聖經嗎？有 salt of the earth ，就不會驚訝 lion and sheep. 但也有疑點。
注二：羅馬、教皇/教宗是義大利統一的最後「障礙」，如何與教皇/教宗（甚至是全世界的天主教徒）保持「良好關係」對義大利是極重要的。處於君權、民主、宗教三相俱變時刻，羅馬教廷問題足足延後義大利的統一至少二十年。
注三：原著以人（prince 、及其家族），狗 （直覺、忠心、到後來變成臭皮囊的醜陋象徵），lion and sheep，作者是想小心跨越那些紅線？
注四：若涉及宗教/聖經，為什麼不用 lion and lamb，不用 lamb 而用 sheep ? 作者想表達什麼、又想隱藏什麼？
注五：Sicily 原著提到"Don Calogero's father-in-law vowed revenge, but his corpse was later found, shot twelve times in the back." 有版本寫成 "shot nine times in the back".
不論九次或十二次，無疑地在十九世紀黑手黨就已經活躍在在西西里島。這也許可以解釋為什麼原著作者和電影導演都有意無意的碰觸ㄧ些也保留一些。這些隱晦秘密把原著和電影更添加浪漫神秘色彩。
》》Here is another link which introduces 10 great neorealist films from Italy. It also explains briefly how neorealist films came about. Visconti has two on the list. One is " Obsession " which was released in 1943 and is regarded as the first neorealist film by many critics.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-italian-neorealist-films
