Peppino Impastato, Luigi Lo Cascio, grows up in a tight-knit Sicilian family in Cinisi, where a warm, celebratory mood surrounds a gathering that he attends as a child. The film opens with him singing Nel blu, dipinto di blu in the back seat of a car with his brother, a moment that feels innocent and carefree. The story quickly anchors itself in the volatile reality around him as his uncle, Cesare Manzella, the local mafia boss, looms large over the town. The hopeful childhood is pierced by a brutal turn when Don Cesare is killed in a car bombing carried out by a rival mob, an act that abruptly pulls Peppino into the harsh world he will grow up to challenge. The loss marks the end of his innocence and plants the seed of a lifelong confrontation with the criminal power structure that frames Cinisi.
After Cesare’s funeral, Peppino seeks out Stefano Venuti, a local painter who is also a fervent Communist in Sicily. Andrea Tidona portrays Venuti, a man who initially refuses to paint Cesare and cannot fully explain his own political divide with the dead man. Yet Stefano eventually takes Peppino under his wing, channeling the boy’s stubborn energy into activism, and steering him toward a path with the Communist Party that will shape his future. The film then fast-forwards to Peppino’s early twenties, when he and his comrades mobilize to resist government plans to expropriate farmland for an airport. The protests land him in jail, from which his father helps secure his release, underscoring the family’s complicated ties to the town’s power dynamics.
As Peppino’s political voice grows louder, he returns with a newly fierce conviction. He delivers an article to a local propaganda newspaper under the headline that attacks Mafia corruption, a piece Stefano deems too radical to publish. This moment marks a rupture in his relationship with Venuti and signals a hardening resolve to expose the mafia’s grip on Cinisi. The clash within his circle deepens the rift with his family, especially as Peppino’s actions threaten the status quo they’ve long depended on.
To broaden his impact, Peppino helps launch a radio station called Radio Aut, a bold project dedicated to denouncing the Mafia and revealing the drug trade led by figures like Don Tano Badalamenti. The pressure from his father intensifies, pushing Peppino out of his home, while his mother secretly assists him—bringing books and shelter to keep his work alive. The family’s disconnect intensifies, and Luigi, Peppino’s father, travels to America to seek a different path for the family, hoping perhaps to pull Peppino back from the edge of rebellion. Luigi Maria Burruano embodies this conflicted parent who wrestles with pride, fear, and duty.
Shortly after Luigi’s return from abroad, he and Peppino converse about the mounting risks, a conversation that ends with a devastating tragedy: Luigi is struck by a car while walking home from his restaurant. Peppino’s response at his father’s funeral—refusing to acknowledge Mafia ties among those around him—speaks to his growing sense of isolation and danger. The movement for resistance begins to feel solitary, and Peppino doubts whether the people around him will stand firm against the Mafia’s coercive power.
Determined to take political action, Peppino runs for local office on a small leftist ticket while continuing his radical radio crusade. But the Mafia does not relent. They decide that removing him would simplify life in Cinisi, targeting him with brutal force. One night, as he stops at a railroad crossing, men close in, beat him, tie him to the tracks, and detonate TNT, erasing him from the streets he fought to change. When his friends rally to find him, they discover only bloodstains and a crime scene they know has been staged. The police, under pressure from the Mafia, classify the death first as terrorism and later as suicide, giving no immediate justice. At his funeral, however, the crowd’s outpouring is loud and clear, a testament to the broad reach of his anti-Mafia work and the lives he touched during a decade of relentless advocacy.
The murder of Peppino Impastato on May 9, 1978 becomes a closed chapter for too long until 1997, when the case is reopened and Gaetano Badalamenti is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the crime. The film thus traces not only a personal tragedy but also the long arc of pursuit for truth and accountability in a town accustomed to looking the other way, and it elevates the names of those who stood with him—from family to fellow activists—to a lasting record of resistance.
Throughout this portrayal, the film interweaves a broad cast of figures connected to Peppino’s life and work: Paolo Briguglia as Giovanni Impastato, Lucia Sardo as Felicia Impastato, Domenico Centamore as Vito, Gaspare Cucinella as Zù Gasparo, Dario Veca as Paolino Schillirò, Luigi Billeci as Giovani Bambino, and Paola Pace as Cosima, all of whom populate the world that shaped Peppino’s choices and the risks he faced in his stand against organized crime. The film preserves the memory of a man who believed deeply in the possibility of a different Sicily, even as the forces of power sought to bury his voice. It remains, at its core, a chronicle of courage, consequence, and the stubborn belief that speaking truth to power can alter a community’s fate.
> La Mafia è una montagna di merda
