The Spider's Stratagem (1970)

This film was originally made for Italian television by Bernardo Bertolucci just before he made "The Conformist" which is something of a companion-piece.  This movie which also deals with the legacy of fascism is undoubtedly one of the more beautiful films ever made and at the same time one of the emptiest.  The photography is suberb with vibrant colours and vistas straight out of a De Chirico painting.  A young man visits the small town where his father was murdered before he was born and where he is revered as a tragic hero; the son's mission is to unearth the truth behind his father's death.  The film sways between past and present with the same actor playing both roles, so at times the viewer is at a loss to immediately realise where one is in the tale.  However like the punchline in Liberty Valance, sometimes it is better to not know the truth and to believe the legend -- and such is the case here.  But by the very end of the film this viewer was left to wonder whether I really understood what had taken place and indeed if any of it really had.