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A Blow to the Mafia

Feature - 56 min

Sicilians attack Mafia power-base

A Blow to the Mafia In the tranquil hills of Sicily the Mafia have long held a stranglehold over the local communities, removing anyone who stands in their way. But the new generation have launched a fightback. The land around Corleone, the symbol of the Family's power, has been seized and this group of intrepid young people have volunteered to farm the land, putting themselves right in the criminals' crosshairs.
Earth and shrapnel are flung into the air as a thousand kilos of TNT rips apart the car of Judge Falcone, the man who symbolised the fight against organised crime in Sicily. "The Mafia have struck a deadly blow to the state" was the message, but it was also a blow that inspired the foundation of 'Libera' and the new resistance against the Mafia.

"They may be in jail now, but it's still organised crime", Salvatore's father warns him, as he celebrates his new job with 'Libera'. His generation know the power of the 'Family'. While 'Libera' and the co-operative La Torre represent a new future free from the Mafia, its members are still taking on ruthless killers. However, they have confidence in the mantra of their founder, Pio La Torre: "the mafias have to be attacked on three levels: prevention, repression and confiscation of their property".

Yet more mundane problems than underworld intimidation also confront them, especially in a region of Italy so stricken by poverty. "There are no agricultural tools. How will we work?" The Italian government may have been giving these young people the land, but they have given them none of the infrastructure they need to succeed. "How can you cultivate 100 hectares? You can't use a hoe". In fact, turning the co-operative from assembled individuals into a functioning business has proven to be a much greater obstacle than the threat of criminal aggression. "Putting everyone together and turning the co-operative into a real business were the greatest challenges", says Salvatore.

But the spectre of the Mafia always hangs over them: "because the land is confiscated from the Mafiosi, things happen, crops are burned and equipment damaged". Often the sacrifices the members take to farm this land, such as going a whole year without a wage, can be undone by a single case of arson. "This olive grove caught fire. We were really upset; it gave us our first crop". Once it's done it's difficult to track the culprit down. "It's not easy to single out the Mafia".

But it is precisely this everyday struggle with the Mafia that gives them the incentive to go on. The dream of ridding Sicily of this scourge fires their passion: "We believe in this cooperative and are trying to make it work, to strike a blow to the Mafia more than anything else".

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TRANSCRIPT

The Producers


After graduating in Architecture, Stefania Casini followed her passion, acting. She worked with Pietro Germi, Bernardo Bertolucci, Peter Greenaway and Dario Argento. In the late 70s she moved to NY, and joined 'The Factory', acting in Andy Warhol’s ‘Bad’. While in New York she became a director with the film ”Lontano da dove”, Venice Film Festival (1983). She
then began to make a great number of documentaries and reportages for RAI and MEDIASET focusing her attention on women and young people. She wrote and made many hard-hitting series including: 'Islam: stories of women'; 'Latin America: stories of women'; 'To be 20 years old in…'; 'A blow to the Mafia'.

Making The Film


I wanted to tell the story of the Pio la Torre Cooperative of Corleone. The most bloodthirsty mafia, guilty of the worst massacres, comes from this town. I wished to describe this difficult venture, the hardships and successes, and especially the stories of the men and women that work there.It is not easy to work land confiscated from the Mafia as suspicion, worry and fear, interference and threats are always in the offing, but these young men and women have an inner strength that supports them in their struggle. They are helped by the hope that they will be able to stay there, be able to work honestly and build their own future. This is another Italy, the Italy that still believes in honesty, that does not concede defeat. It is a country far from the image of corruption and vulgarity that has recently filled the political pages of newspapers.

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