The Mafia Kills Only in Summer

The title repeats a lie. For years in Palermo it was widely maintained that the mafia either did not exist or was a harmless network of friends of friends, and the film's title is one of the explanations children were given. Pierfrancesco Diliberto, who works as Pif, made his first feature here and chose to keep comedy and a list of murders in the same frame. Arturo is conceived during a mafia massacre in 1969, and the story follows him into his twenties. Real names pass in front of him: Boris Giuliano, Rocco Chinnici, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Salvo Lima, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino. After the maxi-trial run by Falcone and Borsellino come the Capaci and via d'Amelio killings. The film won two David di Donatello and two Nastro d'Argento awards in Italy, and prizes at Turin and the European Film Awards. Who it is for: viewers who like comedy used to describe how thoroughly a city can lie to itself. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a mafia film. We never go inside the organisation; the film stands with the victims and the silent crowd.