There are films that can inspire you to change your style and go through a makeover, but very few movies can inspire you to change your life. Among them there's Marco Tullio Giordana's "I Cento Passi" (One Hundred Steps). Released 20 years ago, the film is still relevant and it is even more so today as its protagonist, Giuseppe Impastato, was killed by the Mafia on the night between 8th and 9th May 1978.
Born on 5th January 1948 in a village called Cinisi, in Sicily, Italy, Giuseppe – or more simply Peppino as his family and friends called him – understood since he was a kid that there was a strong connection between his village and family and the local Mafia and Mafia boss don Gaetano Badalamenti. Tano, as he was known, lived at only 100 steps from Peppino and his family's doorstep.
Growing up Peppino learnt to despise the Mafia and, from 1968 on, he joined left wing parties and groups and started organising and supporting the farmers and landowners whose ground had been expropriated to build the Punta Raisi airport. Tired of all the abuses of power perpetrated by the local Mafia, Peppino started rebelling, writing incendiary articles and launching with his friends and comrades a pirate radio, 'Radio Aut', founded in 1976.
From its airwaves, Peppino accused the Mafia in Cinisi and Terrasini of controlling the drugs and arms trafficking through the airport. Through the radio Peppino mocked Tano Badalamenti, dubbing him "Tano Seduto, capo di Mafiopoli" ("Sitting Tano, head of Mafiopolis"; "Tano Seduto" is a pun on "Toro Seduto", the Italian nickname for Indian chief Sitting Bull).
In 1978 Peppino stood as Town-Councillor for Cinisi for the Democrazia Proletaria Party list. But, on the night between 8th and 9th May, he was kidnapped, tied to the railway tracks in Cinisi and blasted with a charge of TNT stuck on his back.
The inquiries about his death were diverted, the Police and the Carabinieri tried to demonstrate that he committed suicide, an accusation supported by Major Antonio Subranni, or that he accidentally died while trying to plant a bomb in an awkward terrorist attempt which recalled editor Feltrinelli's death. Years later, a former Mafia associate turned cooperating witness, Salvatore Palazzolo, accused Tano Badalamenti of having ordered the killing of Giuseppe Impastato, but Peppino's friends and family had already been supporting this accusation on the day after he was killed and had started a counter inquiry that went on for over 20 years.
"I Cento Passi", starring Luigi Lo Cascio (as Peppino Impastato), Luigi Maria Burruano (as Luigi Impastato), Tony Sperandeo (as Gaetano Badalamenti), Lucia Sardo (as Felicia Impastato), Ninni Bruschetta (as cousin Anthony) and Paolo Briguglia (as Giovanni Impastato), starts in the '50s in Cinisi, a village immersed in family reunions, lulled by the music of Italian crooner Domenico Modugno with his hit "Volare".
The movie then passes through the revolutionary '60s and gets to that doomed day of May 1978. While the body of the politician Aldo Moro, killed by the Red Brigades, was found in Rome, Peppino was slaughtered in Cinisi.
What comes out of the movie is the figure of a young, brave man, who wasn't afraid of taking around the Mafia in his programme on Radio Aut called "Onda Pazza" (Crazy Wave). "Pazzo" – crazy – in Sicilian indicates somebody who has the capacity to subvert the order of things and that was exactly what Peppino wanted to do. The programmes on Radio Aut often closed with a quote by Bertolt Brecht, stating "Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are", hinting at the fact that it wasn't impossible for a group of young people in Cinisi to fight against the Mafia through a radio, inside a town and a territory ruled by the Mafia.
Young people will find Peppino's energy, strength, irony and rebellion inspiring, but "I Cento Passi" is a highly recommended film for everybody as it reminds us we must keep on building an anti-Mafia conscience. Mafia is indeed a set of values which are transmitted and considered sacred, values that Peppino Impastato broke with his passion, talent and creativity. In the last few decades, from being interested in exploiting the productive potential of the land, the Mafia expanded its interests into other businesses, from drug trafficking and gun smuggling, moving also into politics (and don't think the fashion industry is immune to Mafia), while forging strong international relations in our globalised world. Peppino was killed because he had understood the Mafia was going through a radical transformation. Yet the Mafia didn't manage to kill his ideas, strength and commitment: the Centro Siciliano di Documentazione "Giuseppe Impastato", a study centre dedicated to Peppino, organised for today a series of digital (because of the Coronavirus emergency) events on the Facebook pages Radio Cento Passi and Casa Memoria Felicia e Peppino Impastato to remember Peppino.
The fight against the Mafia continues even during the Coronavirus emergency: in April several elderly or infirm Italian Mafia bosses were released from prison over Coronavirus fears and moved to house arrest, and there is a tangible risk that criminal organisations may infiltrate the economy and support businesses in financial difficulties that, unable to access public funds, will turn to other sources of credit. So, times may have changed, but Peppino Impastato's battle remains as relevant today as it was in the '70s.
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