He has a stable long distance relationship with a wonderful woman. He doesn't have any mysterious powers of observation like Holmes, or an amazing power of logical deduction like Poirot. He relies on the exhaustive collection of facts and his acute insight into human nature to unravel the crimes.
Much of the time we are watching him interview witnesses; we learn the background facts when his trusty assistants come to his office to quickly brief him after days tedious research we never see. I suspect there is more footage of him ecstatically eating traditional Sicilian dishes, for he is a serious and picky food connoisseur, as of him looking for clues at the scene of the crime. He has a small but elegant home right on the beach.
On his beach he takes a daily morning swim before savoring an espresso on his patio. In the evening, when she is in town, he makes love to his beautiful partner. After solving a case, having witnessed the depths of human suffering and injustice, he heals himself with long walks by the ocean. One reason to watch movies is to see exotic places. The films are loaded with gorgeous cinematography of gorgeous Sicilian scenery and cityscapes, as well as many gorgeous actors.
These shows have the production values of fine cinema more than of TV shows or made-for-TV movies. The show is also hilarious at moments. The comedy is character based, the brilliant portrayals of the foibles of the various main characters depend equally on the writing and the acting. The characters are unforgettable like the cuisine, complex, spicy and rich. The actors portray them down to the bones. Another big plus is that the show is a cross-section of Italian and Sicilian in particular, culture and society.
You can see into the social issues, and the peoples lives, much more than you can by merely being a tourist. For example, some shows deal with the mafia, some with immigration, some with violence against women. I read a review that complained of the lack of action and violence. It's true, this is a detective series with the minimum of violence to move the story forward.
The crimes of violence, and there are usually only one or two per episode, are portrayed in a way to capture the horror without any grind-house indulgence in sadism. I recall only one big shootout in all 34 episodes through If you want violence and action, this is not the series for you.
The stories are a chiaroscuro in which the acts of hatred and greed, that springboard the mystery plot, serve to bring forward contrasting love and compassion.
It also complained of overacting. If you have ever seen how people can react to the sudden and unexpected death of a parent, spouse or child, you know that this cannot be overacted. The performances are true. In many cases the sentiment is distilled, like wine into cognac, as is appropriate to portray the depths of feeling in a few moments on screen.
People routinely bare their hearts to Montalbano, and so to us. Rest in peace. This article is more than 2 years old. Sicilian star … Andrea Camilleri. Read more. Reuse this content. Montalbano has become one of the great detectives whose influence reaches well beyond the realms of fiction. He has become a literary and folklore archetype — a partner in and out of crime of Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe.
Holmes and Marlowe have been played on stage, cinema and television by a host of brilliant actors, from Basil Rathbone to Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum. In the case of Montalbano, one actor, the great Luca Zingaretti, has captured the role for ever. Within a year of two of the airing of the first episodes, the visitors started pouring in. Tourism in Sicily went up more than forty per cent in two years, and the island is now one of the top holiday destinations in Europe, particularly for Brits in search of the magic of Montalbano.
Baroque towns that were in danger of falling down only a few years back — Modica, Scicli, Noto and Palazzuolo Accredi, not forgetting Ragusa itself — are now main destinations for visitors, including a delightful Oldie tour three years ago. It was, frankly, a bit of a dump — now it has some of the best restaurants and food in Italy.
And the wine is not bad, really world class in fact. A lot of this is down to the Montalbano effect — it has changed things completely. The first murder in the first Montalbano series was filmed there! Food forms a baseline rhythm on the screen and in the books. Bill Nott, our wine critic, gave a brilliant disquisition on the Montalbano diet on the Oldie tour. It may or may not be down to him, but arancini now occur on menus from Hackney to Halifax. Canolli form the very public vice of Dottore Pasquano, the pathologist in all the episodes till recently.
He is played by Marcello Perracchio, a true son of Ragusa, who died in at Most of the supporting cast in most episodes are Sicilians, playing brilliant vignettes. Sironi, Zingaretti and their team set up in Ragusa for months, and trawl clubs and theatre groups high and low for talent.
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