One hundred steps. The distance between Peppino Impastato’s house and that of boss Gaetano Badalamenti. One hundred steps that separated rebellion from surrender, courage from silence. That distance has become a film-manifesto against organized crime. 25 years have passed since the release of “I cento passi”, a masterpiece by director Marco Tullio Giordana dedicated to the civil commitment of the Sicilian journalist and anti-mafia activist Peppino Impastato, killed on the tracks with a charge of TNT: a cowardly mafia attack disguised as suicide. The film, in a restored 4K version, has been showing in Italian cinemas since 1 December. And today we should all look at it.
I remember well when I saw “The Hundred Steps” in middle school. My companions and I were overwhelmed by the courage of Peppino – played masterfully by Luigi Lo Cascio – and by his dreamy spirit, constantly searching for beauty amidst squalor. Even today, every time I hear “A Whiter Shade of Pale” images of the final scene of Peppino’s funeral procession pass through my mind and I feel angry.
Because today talking about anti-mafia seems to have gone out of fashion. But the mafia never went away. Today he no longer acts (almost never) with TNT charges or executions. It moves in the gray areas, in a subtle way, it insinuates itself into the palaces of power, into contracts to build hospitals and supermarkets, into vote exchanges, into municipal administrations. From 1991 to today, over 360 Italian municipalities (and not just in the South) have been dissolved due to mafia infiltration. Among the latest are Paternò, in the Catania area, and Altomonte, in the Cosentino area. Only in my area the list is long and desolate: Randazzo, Palagonia, Tremestieri Etneo.
And the problem is that it’s not even surprising anymore. “Okay it was predictable”, “They discovered hot water”: the comments say it all. We have become accustomed to the rottenness.
The mafia no longer has the recognizable face of Don Tano Badalamenti: he shows up in a suit and tie and seems less brutal. And instead it continues to take away our dignity and future, piece by piece. The mafia is alive, present, active. And exactly what Peppino said from the microphones of Radio Aut remains: a huge mountain of shit.
One hundred steps. We must find the courage to walk through them all without turning around and with our backs straight.
