The fact that the director carefully selects the most beautiful and/or hard to reach spots to convey his visual message seems almost like cheating in a sense. Open the train door, and we step out right into probably the most beautiful train station in all of Sicily. Open it ten seconds later, it’s the glorious crag at Cefalu. I had to sit on a train for two hours just to see that rock and even then, I only saw it for a couple of seconds from that particular viewpoint, and my view had powerlines! And people’s laundry, although I must say, I even miss that from here. Anyway, you watch the movie, and you get all this beauty without having to sit on the train at all.

It’s sort of like a fancy fusion dinner. X Y Z food from everywhere. You didn’t grow the asparagus, you didn’t raise the duck nor did you have to kill it. You didn’t go to school for four years to learn how to cook it. And you don’t know how to make a 1982 Chateaux Rothschilde. But you certainly have no trouble enjoying it.