Rosi was one of the central figures of the politicised post-neorealist 1960s and 1970s of Italian cinema, along with Gillo Pontecorvo, Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Taviani brothers, Ettore Scola and Valerio Zurlini. Dealing with a corrupt postwar Italy, Rosi's movies take on controversial issues, such as "Salvatore Giuliano", a film that won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962. The film examined the life of the Sicilian gangster Giuliano, using the technique of a long series of flashbacks, one that became very popular thereafter. Shipman suggests that the film, with a "superb unity of the landscape and people of Sicily" ... "made Rosi's international reputation."