No, no! Tell the lady her husband must come for his identity card,
because nothing's done through intermediaries here.
Holy Virgin, he's fainted! Quick! Quick! He's fainted!
- Who's he talking about? - I don't know.
- Who could it be? - God knows.
Could it be Mrs. Laura who's had two bypasses?
No, it's the director. What happened?
What happened? Have you upset him by any chance?
No, no.
- How did it happen? - I don't know. He went "Ah" and died.
Alberto, doesn't your brother work at the hospital? Then call him!
It's always the same, your brother, the hospital... Call an ambulance!
He's a friend. He might take it badly.
After almost 30 years of dedicated service,
Mr. Musumeci, the accountant, my father's direct superior,
had seen his dream come true, he'd fallen on the battlefield.
There's life for you, one moment you're here, the next you're gone.
Musumeci was a good Christian.
- Water got him wet... - And the wind dried him up.
- I meant it in a good way. - It's always said in a good way.
Anyway, if you need anything you can count on me now.
What are you on about, Cusumano?
When that good soul of Musumeci was around, I did him some favours
and now you get his post because you're the senior, you see?
It's not the right moment to talk about such things. Musumeci's still warm!
Accountant Musumeci was known for his sensitivity to friends' requests
especially friends of friends, and Palermo was full of people like him,
- there was at least one in each office. - It's normal!
It was normal for everybody, but not for my father.
And I loved him for this too,
because among all those crooked things he tried to stand straight,
even against his own interests
and in those days a nice promotion would've solved many of our problems!
They're all there cajoling me. "Lorenzo here! Lorenzo there!"
It could be a great opportunity for you.
Assuming I get the job, which isn't all that sure,
I already know how it'll end up,
I'll spend my time doing favours as Musumeci used to.
What's wrong with that, dad?
We were told at school that it's generous to do favours.
There are favours and favours.
But you deserve this job, it's not a gift.
Pia, it's useless, totally useless. We can't get out of it.
What's the matter? What's that face?
- Can I talk? - Go ahead.
I can't see why you persist in seeing everything bleakly.
You don't have to behave like Musumeci.
If you don't want to do something, you don't. If you want to, you do!
No, dear, it's not like a restaurant where you pick from the menu.
If you're asked a favour, you must do it
and once you've done one, there's no going back.
Dad's right. Never give in to compromise. Never!
Angela, you just be quiet and stop talking in clichés!
This is no joke and it concerns you too!
Lorenzo, think it over carefully, this is about our life.
The mortgage, our house, less worries. Have you thought about that?
Pia, let's get this clear. Let me tell you a cliché,
I think Musumeci was a mafioso, Ma-fio-so!
And that's enough to say no.
Come on.
Amen.
Mr. Musumeci, Calogero Musumeci, who we used to call Lello,
was a good Christian,
an excellent Christian who didn't judge others.
A great heart, really great!
He always said,
"Do good and forget it. Do evil and remember it".
Yet, he never did any evil. Never.
He was always a good man.
He's now up there,
in Heaven with our Lord.
So mafiosi go to Heaven too?
Salvatore, be quiet!
- Shame on you! - Calm down please, he's just a child!
- Let's all calm down. - Shame on you!
What kind behaviour is this? In the presence of a corpse.
A dead man was in that coffin, his widow in tears,
and you get up, disrupt, talk.
We're in a church. You don't laugh in a church.
It's not a market, alright?
Is it forbidden to ask questions in a church?
Yes! You want to drive me mad. You'll end up in Hell!
- Now there, Brother Giacinto... - You'll burn!
Hasn't anyone taught you to ask for permission before you ask a question?
And hasn't anyone ever taught you not to ask certain questions?
Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Well, it's just kids' stuff...
Kids' stuff! Well said, go on like that then!
But don't come complaining to me when he continues his clever tricks.
Come on, Salvatore, apologize and Brother Giacinto will forgive you.
- Apologize. - I'm sorry, Brother Giacinto.
Alright, but don't do it again. Go home now.
You too. Goodbye.
Salvù...
I don't think mafiosi go to Heaven.
God, we looked so bad! Should we punish him? Just a little.
He was insolent,
but a son puzzling over right and wrong deserves a reward.
- Lorenzo, I've had an idea. - Tell me.
Pick me up from school tomorrow so we can be alone, just you and me.
Lovely, a whole day with you, what could be better?
I might even take you for a tour.
You've settled it all then.
I want you to see the road I take each day to go to school, the bus,
and I want you to meet my colleagues who think I'm a war widow.
A war widow? We'll show them this nice ghost tomorrow.
With that idea my mother thought she'd show my father
all the road and the effort it took to be a substitute in Partinico
and also show someone else that she really had a husband.
There we are.
Your school bag!
- Dad! - Geez, you could at least close it.
Here you are.
- Bye. - Bye.
What's the matter? No please, not now!
Not today. Please, not today!
No!
What's this smoke?
- The engine's dead, I'd change it. - Change it, Nino?
Are you paying?
Alright, I'll try, but you should go to St. Augustine's church for a miracle.
Did it have to happen on the day I must pick up my wife from school?
If you want me to try you must leave it here.
- Is this yours? - What is it?
- It's my son's. Nino, please... - Bye.
- Here I am, were you waiting for me? - Hi, Antonio.
- Come, I'll take you home. - I can't. My husband's coming today.
Mrs. Pia...
So shall I go?
Your husband called to say he can't come today.
Pino! Don't close the school yet.
You can't fight destiny.
I forgot to tell you your husband can't come because the engine's broken.
I see, thanks.
- Pino? - Tell me.
- Haven't you got things to do? - I'm off...
Shall we go?
MY QUESTIONS
What's this? "Jeopardy!"?
My father had discovered my black box. That notebook contained all our secrets.
I'd started asking myself questions for Mario Francese's investigation
and as one question leads to another I hadn't stopped since.
From that moment, I wrote there each doubt I had.
"Why doesn't Alice want to be my girlfriend?"
"Why has Sebastiano touched Santina's boobs and not me?"
Just look at this! And you're so young!
"Why does dad go to the office every day and not uncle Massimo?"
So he's figured that out too.
"Why is Angela with that idiot of Rosario?"
Rosario?
Shame on her, so she's got a boyfriend!
"What are good favours and what are bad ones?"
"If dad takes Musumeci's post will he become a mafioso too?"
Reading that notebook had the effect of an avalanche,
the questions about Musumeci particularly unsettled my father
as I was the only one of the family to have understood his real fear
and I'd also discovered something that he wasn't supposed know.
"Who's the man who brings mum home?"
I thought about going to the North,
but then where would I find all this?
Look at the road or we'll end up worse than in the North. Antonio!
- We'll end up in the next world. - I'd go anywhere with you.
Why don't we go back to that nice restaurant?
Let me remind you we've got a meal pending.
And it'll stay pending because I'll leave again.
Yes, you might be right. I'm not even that hungry.
Let's go to Mondello and have a nice walk, shall we?
It's a shame to go home with such a sun!
Are you going to understand that I'm married?
Alright.
Excuse me, where's Vicolo dei Lattarini?
Sorry?
I was asking you about Vicolo dei Lattarini, it should be in this area.
- Yes, it's on the left. - Thanks.
560) WHO'S THE MAN WHO BRINGS MUM HOME?
Hi, Lorenzo.
- Pia, we have to talk. - I'm here, talk.
Look at this. Your son's notebook.
My father swallowed down his jealousy, his fear, his rage.
In that moment he decided to put his worries concerning me first.
That discovery was a shock for my mother too
because it revealed a kind of obsession for the Mafia.
"If you don't die for women in Palermo, what is it you die of?"
"What does 'they kill each other' mean?"
"If the Mafia doesn't exist why do we have mafiosi in Palermo?"
"And most importantly, who are these mafiosi?"
MP Lima, does the Mafia exist?
The Mafia! This nonsense again, it's rumours, suspicions, whispers.
How can you deny that the Mafia exists?
The Mafia doesn't exist. It's an invention of you journalists
to discredit gentlemen and all the Sicilian people!
Sir! Sir!
Only later did we see that more of my questions were also linked to the Mafia.
"Why are the lamp posts in Palermo all crooked?"
- Who recommended you? - Ciancimino.
- Who do you belong to? - MP Lima.
On May the 5th, 1972, 115 people died in the plane crash...
The search continued in the area where the Alitalia DC9 "Island of Stromboli"
crashed into the sea during the night
with 129 people on board while landing...
"Why had they built the airport"
"in the windiest and most dangerous spot of the city, between mountains and sea?"
What do you mean why?
That's where our land was, between mountains and sea.
"Why am I the only one who asks himself questions?"
"Is there something wrong with me?"
There's something wrong with us!
It's all our fault.
We've neglected him and he needed us.
He's like a sponge, absorbing everything he hears.
Oh God, I feel like dying. Children of his age play!
Where has he got this obsession for questions from?
We have to help him now, we can't look the other way.
We must tell him how things really work and give him precise limits.
Do you think we'll be enough?
I mean, we might want a doctor
to tell us what to do.
Oh god!
After long deliberation and torment
my parents finally chose my reward for asking questions on right and wrong.
You're not to worry, it's nothing. It's a normal visit.
Yes, as one grows, it's good to have a check up from time to time.
- You know what they say, right? - No, what do they say?
- It's... routine. - Yes, it's routine.
Yet, despite their admiring efforts, this confused talking around
triggered an alarm bell inside me and new questions.
But if one is well, why does he have to see a doctor?
You mustn't worry, okay?
You look pale. Check his temperature!
He's not pale.
While I went on tormenting myself,
my sister Angela shrewdly chose to take advantage of my parents' disorientation
to make a request that would have been forbidden at other times.
To Florence on her own! Is she mad? Aren't you telling her too?
- Angela, your father's right. - It's the chance of a lifetime!
People from all over Europe are going to Patty Smith's concert!
Patty Smith! The truth is you want to be alone with your boyfriend, inst' it?
Marco isn't my boyfriend, he's just a friend.
- Did she say Marco? - She said Marco.
Marco's my friend, he even helped me with my research for school. He's nice.
He's nice is he? Kind?
You see, dad? Before you say no, meet him, give me a chance, please!
- Let's meet this Marco then. - Thanks.
We've not decided yet, bring this Marco here to me.
Angela, let's think about it again, I'm not sure it's a good idea.
What are you worried about? They won't eat you. Come on.
- Alright, as you wish. - Thanks, let's go.
Come on!
So, this is Marco.
Please sit down.
But we call him "Torino" because that's where he's from.
- We moved here this year. - Turin, right?
"Who's the man who brings mum home?"
Historical city of the "Risorgimento", beautiful.
Yes, but it mustn't be easy to live there with all that violence.
In fact my father's happy in Palermo.
It's a nice place, we're freer, there's no terrorism and working in a firm...
Yes, his father's important even if he's on the side of the masters.
Angela, what's this language?
- May we know precisely what he does? - He's an engineer.
Come on, say it all!
His father's head of the Termini Imerese factory.
- He gave us the tickets. - I see.
Yes, it was a miracle to get them as it's the event of the decade.
I don't know... maybe it's like Woodstock was for you.
Sure, Woodstock...
What's Woodstock, dad?
Alright, all's nice and clear, but I'm not convinced.
Two youngsters like that, alone, in Florence, it feels a little risky.
But we're going to his aunt's and uncle's! Tell him.
They can't wait to have us and they live really close to the concert.
Yes, it's better that way, isn't it? We can call them.
You're even going to call his aunt and uncle!
Sure, Florence is beautiful.
Yes, and Marco wants to show me around.
He says... the "offices" are wonderful.
Yes, I wanted to take Angela to the Uffizi Gallery.
Yes, a bit of culture wouldn't hurt her.
So? What do you say?
This Marco seems a good kid.
I like him and he's polite, educated.
Yes, but two youngsters alone in Florence...
What's wrong with it? It's right for Angela to see different things.
My questions and Angela's request had created a temporary diversion.
- It's hard days here at home. - Yes...
Hard days.
If you don't want to, we won't send her.
But my father had never stopped thinking about the page he'd ripped from my book.
I'm sorry, Pia, I've tried, but I can't take it anymore.
What are you on about?
Who's this man?
He's a colleague.
A colleague from school who brings me home sometimes.
He's kind.
Anything else you'd like to know?
No.
I trust you.
- We've made it. - Yes, thanks Marco, you're a pal.
If it hadn't been for you, my parents would never have let me go. Bye then!
- I'm coming! - Hurry up!
I'll come and pick you up then!
Hey, am I to wait any longer? Come on!
- I was dying to be with you! - Good girl, calm down now.
- It's all thanks to "Torino". - Yeah, we'll thank your friend,
and on revolution day the northerner we'll pay. It rhymes.
- Please! - What? Are you hurt? Go with him then!
What are you on about? You know I only want to be with you.
See? We share the same desires.
Hold my glasses.
- What do you want? - Hey mate, peace and love!
Peace and love? Open up!
No! I used to be like you, you're my past!
- Fuck off! - Free yourself, mate.
On revolution day guys like you come to a bad end!
Stop it, love! Stop it! Look at me!
And while Angela achieved her dream of love
I counted the days separating me from the visit.
Anything would have been better,
even Rosario's seminaries about the dictatorship of the proletariat.
- Why are you down? - My parents want me to see a doctor.
- Why? Are you ill? - No.
I feel good.
- So there's nothing wrong with you? - I don't think so.
- Do you promise? - I promise.
I'm happy now. I don't like you feeling bad.
When will I get better?
Hi, Salvatore.
I married Fofò in the end. You were in here.
We've brought you sugared almonds, do you want them? Come on!
Do you want them or not?
Finally, the dreaded day of the visit arrived.
PSYCHIATRIST
Dad, what does psychiatrist mean?
A psychiatrist is a doctor, a doctor like any other.
Doctor Paolo La Lumia wasn't a doctor like any other.
He was the most eminent Sicilian psychiatrist.
So eminent that the court of Palermo called him for the most delicate cases,
when it was to be decided if the accused was a mafioso or a lunatic,
or if he belonged to the typical southern category,
the lunatic mafioso who, due to his insanity, couldn't go to jail.
La Lumia immediately noticed my obsession for the Mafia as well.
Good boy, I can see you're very curious and you ask yourself a lot of questions,
but I want you to rest today.
Let's do this, I'll ask the questions and you'll answer, alright?
La Lumia was a very curious type.
Tell me, do you get along with mum and dad?
Do you hear them say strange things?
- What kind of strange things? - Please!
No?
What about school? Do you like your teacher?
Your classmates. I see you've got a special friend, Alice.
I like her a lot, but I can't tell her.
And he commented on all my answers in the same way.
Good, good, very good.
Then it was time for the most delicate test, the Rorschach test.
Salvatore, free your mind and don't be scared.
I didn't need to be told twice.
- Alice and Fofò walking hand in hand. - Well, it's okay...
- What do you see? - Santina's boobs.
He's a boy!
- And what do you see here? - Andreotti and Ciancimino.
Now, Salvatore, it's clear you've got a lot of imagination
but do you know what the philosopher says?
"If you push curiosity too far it can bring serious ailments".
Come on, let's do a nice EEG and get it over with.
I think at that point La Lumia had decided to scare my parents.
I understand your concerns, madam, but we need a complete picture.
- No, please, take it off immediately! - Please, madam...
No, take it off now! We're going!
My son asks himself questions, he's a curious and intelligent child, so?
Is this an illness for you? Come on, let's go!
Have you understood?
Take this. Let's see how much it is.
It's 200 with a receipt and 150 without.
- With a receipt please. - Here.
It later became clear why the doctor had been so disturbed by my answers.
In the context of an anti-Mafia operation
the genius of Sicilian psychiatry, Paolo La Lumia, was arrested this morning.
The doctor is accused of taking bribes to adjust psychiatric expertises.
So that's who La Lumia was.
- Mum? So I'm not ill? - Ill? You're fine.
- You're an angel. - What about my questions?
You can ask as many as you wish.
So why did the doctor tell me to free my mind during the visit?
Forget about him.
Let's put it this way,
each one of us has something that makes them unique
and you are curious, you like asking questions,
but you're never ever satisfied with the first answer.
But he's right after all, sometimes you should free your mind
be easy and act by instinct.
You shouldn't think too much but rather do what you feel.
Like what?
I've decided we're getting a new car. What do you think about that?
So I'll come and get you at school every day.
- How are we going to manage that? - How?
I'll accept Musumeci's post and with the rise, slowly, slowly...
- Are you happy? - Yes.
What did your mother say? You should sometimes act by instinct.
Careful! We'll have to take it to the dry cleaner's.
Hello?
What?
Yes, I see. I'll be right there.
Thanks.
I'm sorry about this mess.
What about him?
He stayed.
- I've heard the concert was great. - It was shit!
I expected something romantic, to be together like two lovers.
- Instead? - Instead the bastard had another girl
and even kissed her in front of me!
Well, he's really a piece of shit then.
He even had the courage to say it was my fault.
Because I'm a bigot, sexually repressed and a couple should be free.
Meaning he wanted you and the other one to...
Don't talk rubbish. Are you all that stupid?
Sorry, Angela, I didn't mean to...
It was awful!
He's a pig! A pig with no wings, because he's an idiot!
Marco...
Thanks for being here, I thought I'd die.
The Cinquecento took away many family memories.
Come on, come on!
Up! Pick it up!
More to the side.
One, two...
Hooray!
- Don't feel like that. - What's the matter, dad?
You were almost born in there.
For that matter, you were also conceived in there.
- Come on. - What a romantic dad.
The only happy one was uncle Massimo
who'd never liked my father's yellow Cinquecento
because he always mistook it for someone else's.
Let's have coffee at the flying squad, it's nicer there, isn't it?
It reminded my uncle Massimo of Saro Cutò's car,
inspector from the flying squad, famous among big and small criminals
because he didn't arrest people with a service vehicle but with his own.
Why are you with him?
Weren't we to arrest him together tomorrow evening?
Yes, sir, but I was going home, I saw him and I got him.
You're always the same.
So my uncle, who maybe didn't have a very clean conscience,
always felt some apprehension when he saw a yellow Cinquecento.
Do you want a lift, brother-in-law?
Lorenzo, you've made the right choice.
An office manager can't go to work in an old banger,
image is important, this one at least makes you look a bit better.
You've got a good eye, the 127 is a sure choice,
it's the most sold car in Europe. It's perfect for the city, for journeys.
Try it, try it.
- May I? - Sure.
- How is it? - It's a dream!
- A dream! - Dad!
Why don't you get in too?
Please.
Hey, she knows the way.
- She's the buyer's wife, not the kid. - It's me.
Please get in, the back is very comfortable too.
Salvù, go on!
- Sorry, are the seats reclining? - Yes.
- Let me get in. - Can I try?
- Pia, look. - Pull it up, you'll break it.
- Can we sleep in it too? - Pull it up!
- It feels right in my hands. - I'm jealous.
Jealous? Did you hear that? Reclining seats...
- Well, it's expensive. - Forget the price, we'll reduce that
and the instalments will be so small you won't even feel them.
Just decide if you like it and leave the rest to Alfonso.
- And who's Alfonso? - Me, Puccio.
- Ah, the son of... Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
Well, a little discount, a little help...
- Sure! - Nice hair.
Thanks.
- How do I look? - As if it had always been yours.
The arrival of the red 127 was like a fresh start for us all.
Also because the Giammarresis used the word "buy" sparingly.
But that evening it was uncle Massimo who made the nicest surprise.
- No, I'll sit here. - Why?
- I want to be near Lorenzo. - Near Lorenzo!
- It's a special day! - Pass me the glass.
She couldn't stand being without you, she says she feels at home here.
We're very happy too that you're back together.
Thanks, Pia, thanks.
Isn't it true, Lorenzo, that we're happy they're back together?
Certainly, anyway Patrizia is part of the family now.
- I like aunt Patrizia. - I like you too, very much!
- Hey, I saw this woman first. - That's true.
Your uncle's joking.
- You took my eye... - Massimo!
Turn the oven off or the pasta will burn.
Did you take that in? Not you!
- What have you done to him? - I don't know, I don't recognize him.
See how things have changed?
You buy a new car and I kneel down to apologize to a woman!
- Would you have imagined this? - No.
Me neither.
What?
At least tonight that we've got back together, be a gentleman, open the door.
Love, now that we're back together, thank God you've got a car again.
- Are you serious? - No, I'm joking.
- That was nice, wasn't it? - Yes, very nice.
From tomorrow on I'll take you and get you from school every day.
It was probably just a coincidence, but that evening, for the first time,
Saro Cutò's yellow Cinquecento went by under our house
and it whizzed past like lighting.
All the inspector wanted, after a day in Palermo's Far West,
was to get back to his family.
That evening Cutò said goodbye to his yellow Cinquecento too,
but that wasn't a coincidence,
it was a warning, a warning from the Mafia.
Cheers to Lorenzo Giammarresi, our new director, the best one!
Don't go overboard. What are you doing, Cusumano?
- You're always the same. - Thanks, thanks to you all.
Congratulations!
Have we got a newspaper? Today's newspaper?
- Why do you want a newspaper? - What do you mean?
February the 27th, 1979, a historic day, you must remember it. Keep it.
I will, I will. Come on.
What's the newspaper got to do with our director?
My father-in-law married on the day Kennedy was killed.
- So? - It's tragedy upon tragedy.
What's happened to you, Lorenzo?
Ciccio, what happened to you on the day of your wedding? Tell us.
The wedding went well. The tragedy came after.
Seeing that title my father understood that he'd never forget that day.
CINQUECENTO TURNED INTO A CAR BOMB
He took it like a bad omen or maybe like a warning.
Lorenzo, aren't you having a drink with us? Come on!
- Sure, why not? - Come on.
- Come on, boss! - Thanks.
- Congratulations! - Thanks!
- Hooray! - Congratulations.
- Bravo.
Hooray!
That's great!