In the 21th century getting hold of natural resources of emerging countries, is no matter of war--it is a matter of complex financial actions. And the power of governments behind the events has been replaced by the power of holding companies. Nowadays you don't conquer a country. You buy it. "Short story of long betrayals" is again set in the Republic of Queimada, where in the "Salar de Queimada" (a salt lake) lies 50% of lithium in the whole world. Not surprisingly, there is an international interest in its fate and a breathless fight to seize it.
Valerio Mastandrea is Franz, a night bus driver on the airport route who owes a lot of money from poker debts. He's stumbled upon by the variously named Leila, a thief who has accidentally become wrapped up in a secretive blackmail deal involving the President. As the film unfolds, a secret war between factions of the Security Services, a series of confusions among the various criminal fraternities whose activites have been touched upon by the deal, and Leila's past all complicate the situation.
Professor Lipari teaches in a public school and is in a full-on existential crisis. He has no faith in himself and in the possibility of changing the world for the better. At school, a former student of his who is also a teacher will change his attitude.
In 18th-century Sicily, deaf-mute highborn Marianna Ucrìa is forced to marry his uncle Pietro, a disgusting old man, at age 13. She bears three children before even turning 16, when she finally gives birth to a boy. Despite everything, she'll find a way to emancipate herself from the oppressive social conventions of the time.
