Italy under Mussolini (1922 to 1943): In 1922, Aldo Piscitello works as a municipal employee in the town of Modica, Sicily. With Mussolini's assumption of power, he is forced by his boss to join the Fascist Party. If he fails to do so, he will lose his job. Piscitello reluctantly joins the Fascists and even backdates his enrollment to 1921. His wife Rosina and his daughter support the move. However, he maintains contacts with his anti-Fascist friends, who meet at the shop of the local pharmacist. The power and ideology of the Fascists are omnipresent. There are military drills on weekends, public gatherings and secret agents. Even Bellini's Norma is censored. Piscitello’s son Giovanni returns from military service and hopes to take up an ordinary life. He marries the daughter of the pharmacist, but, as Italy allies itself with Germany’s war, he must re-join the military. The pharmacist is imprisoned after his singing the French national anthem, when Italy declares war against France. 

Modica (RG), (Sicilia), 1935. Un semplice e onesto impiegato municipale, Aldo Piscitello, è costretto a iscriversi, non proprio entusiasticamente, al Partito Nazionale Fascista. Il figlio dell'impiegato intanto, soldato, partecipa a varie battaglie e in tutte queste riesce a scampare dalla morte, ma muore però ucciso a tradimento da alcuni soldati tedeschi mentre ritorna a casa col rimpianto di non aver mai visto suo figlio, nato mentre lui era in guerra. Nel 1943, allo sbarco degli Alleati, Piscitello si ritrova ad essere epurato dallo stesso sindaco che, quando era podestà, gli aveva imposto di prendere la tessera fascista.

DVD-R is in Italian with switchable English subtitles. Approx. 109 mins.  See film samples for sound and video quality!