One Hundred Steps

I cento passi
Original Movie Poster for I cento passi
Directed by	Marco Tullio Giordana
Produced by	Fabrizio Mosca (producer) Guido Simonetti (line producer)
Written by	Claudio Fava Marco Tullio Giordana Monica Zapelli
Starring	Luigi Lo Cascio Luigi Maria Burruano Lucia Sardo Paolo Briguglia Tony Sperandeo
Cinematography	Roberto Forza Stefano Paradiso
Edited by	Roberto Missiroli
Release date	September 1, 2000 (Italy)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian Sicilian

I cento passi (English: One Hundred Steps or The Hundred Steps) is an Italian film released in 2000, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana about the life of Peppino Impastato, a political activist who opposed the Mafia in Sicily. The story takes place in the small town of Cinisi in the province of Palermo, the home town of the Impastato family. One hundred steps was the number of steps it took to get from the Impastato house to the house of the Mafia boss Tano Badalamenti. The film has been released on Regions 2 and 4 DVDs but a Region 1 release has yet to be made.

The film opens with Peppino as a small child singing the popular song “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” with his brother in the back seat of a car on the way to a family gathering. The family is one of good standing in the social community and they are celebrating the fact that they have such a good life. In this scene the relationship between Peppino and his uncle Cesare is established. His uncle is a Don or Mafia boss in the small town of Cinisi where the story is set. In a scene soon after the happy family gathering we see don Cesare blown up by a car bomb which was planted by a rival Mafia boss. This ends Peppino’s time of innocence. Even as a small child he is thrust into the realities of life in the Mafia.

After his uncle’s funeral he goes to a local painter, Stefano Venuti, who is also a very outspoken member of the communist party in Sicily, to paint a picture of Cesare. Stefano refuses to paint it but does not really give him a reason. He did not get along with Cesare when he was alive because of their great difference in political views but he cannot really tell this sad stubborn little boy why he cannot paint him. Stefano ends up taking Peppino under his wing and puts his stubborn persistent energy to use in the aid of the Communist Party in Sicily. The story then jumps to when Peppino is a young adult in his early 20s protesting against the government expropriating land that belonged to local farmers to build an airport with his Comrades in the Communist Party. They all end up in the local jail where Peppino is bailed out by his father.

After this incident Peppino brings Stefano an article he has written for a local propaganda newspaper titled “La Mafia è una montagna di merda” or “The Mafia is a pile of shit” which Stefano deems to be too extreme and very dangerous to publish. This is the point where there is a break between Peppino and Stefano. Peppino becomes more and more extreme in his hatred for the Mafia and his need to expose all of the corruption that is happening in the town. Peppino and his father get into a big fight because of this article and this begins break between Peppino and his family.