Being a great fan of The Godfather (1972) and having recently watched the 2025 TV mini-series The Leopard, I was struck by how differently Mediterranean, or Sicilian based patriarchal power can be portrayed. One vision is shaped by the USA myth of survival and violence; the other is rooted in Mediterranean history, human vulnerability, and a more humanised understanding of authority, politics and society.
Francis Ford Coppola shaped Vito Corleone into an icon of silent, commanding power. His limited English reinforces a familiar USA image of the immigrant: silent, impenetrable, and formidable — a figure for whom power is inseparable from control, loyalty, and violence. Patriarchal authority is celebrated as the foundation of family survival and honour, with little reflection on its human cost and social impact. It is a masculine, heroic, and mythologised portrayal of patriarchy.
It is true that The Godfather Part II and Part III show the inevitable decline and corruption of patriarchal power through Michael Corleone’s isolation and downfall. However, even as the narrative darkens, a nostalgic tone lingers. The early myth of power remains intact, cloaked in tragedy but never fully dismantled.
By contrast, the 2025 Italian TV adaptation of The Leopard presents a much sharper and more critical portrayal of authority in society. Based on Il Gattopardo, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s only novel — it captures the slow decline of the Sicilian aristocracy during the Risorgimento. The new series, directed by Tom Shankland, Giuseppe Capotondi, and Laura Luchetti, offers a broader and more sensitive vision, where patriarchal authority is not only questioned but shown to be historically doomed.
The presence of a female director (Laura Luchetti) subtly shifts the focus. Power is no longer portrayed simply as dominance; it is shown as a burden that exposes the leader’s fragility. The Prince of Salina, at the heart of the story, embodies this contradiction: he maintains his dignity but understands that true leadership demands empathy, reflection, and ultimately, the wisdom to let go.
Importantly, The Leopard does not merely mourn the end of an old world. It places that end within a broader historical transformation — the collapse of the monarchic-patriarchal order and the rise of Garibaldian Italy, pointing towards new republican ideals. There is no nostalgia here; only the clear-eyed recognition that the world must move forward, and that true dignity lies in accepting change.
The comparison shows how USA and Mediterranean traditions merge power and violence, but in distinct ways. In the USA, as shown in The Godfather, violence is a visible and accepted cost of survival. In the Mediterranean world, as seen in The Leopard, violence is subtler, hidden within systems of honour, class, and tradition. It is quieter, but no less present.
Both stories expose the cost of patriarchal power. But only The Leopard strips away the myth to show its slow collapse — and with it, the quiet dignity of those who face it.
Where The Godfather glorifies survival through violence, The Leopard reveals the deeper courage needed to survive through loss — and invite us to imagine a different kind of future.
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