Roll it again: Ludwig

Every frame could be hanged in a museum, all the dialogs are poetry, and the music, the actors and the story couldn't be better, this is a Wagnerian "total work of art". I don't have much to talk about this movie, it speaks for itself (and it's too much for me), just pause the movie at any time and look for the details. This is Visconti's masterpiece, although very romantic and poetic, preserves the neorrealism he himself established. 4 hours long, don't watch all the movie in the same day.

Count Don Luchino Visconti, Duke of Modrone, member of one of the most important families of Italy, started directing films at his forties after taming noble horses and watching operas. He is regarded as one of the personalities that rebuilt Italian cinema after the War and that started the neorrealist movement, but with Romantic touches in style, utterly Mannerist at his last works. Although being from a wealthy and noble family he was a member of the Communist party. A biography worth reading. You can guess the point of view of his movies by this summary.

Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, another interesting bio. Also known as Ludwig the Mad, see the movie to find out why.