The Mayor of Rione Sanità

Antonio Barracano, a uomo d’onore who is able to distinguish between decent people and swine, is The Mayor of the Rione Sanità. With his charismatic influence and the help of his friend the doctor he dispenses justice according to his own lights, outside the law and with impartiality. Those who are good go to Heaven and those who are not go to Don Antonio, that is the rule. When Rafiluccio Santaniello, the baker’s son, presents himself in desperation, determined to kill his father, Don Antonio recognises in the young man the same thirst for revenge that had obsessed him in his youth and then changed him forever. The Mayor decides to intervene to reconcile father and son and save them both. Eduardo De Filippo’s play Il Sindaco del Rione Sanità has been turned into a movie of great topicality, able to speak of the eternal struggle between good and evil. (Venice International Film Festival)