Nonna
Grazia is a free-spirited mother-of-three married to shy fisherman Pietro and living on the idyllic but isolated island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. She shows signs of manic depressive behavior — one moment she's laughing wildly and swimming half-naked in the sea, while the next she's curled in a ball on her bed. Out of her earshot, the adult members of her extended family vaguely discuss sending her to a facility of some sort in Northern Italy.
Maria
After Annunziata (Angela Molina) opens up a hostel with her friend Antonio (Daniel Ezralow), she is saved from being raped by a Camorra boss as the gangster is suddenly killed. The killer escapes before Annunziata is able to see who it was. Following this murder are several others, and always with the same “signature” — a syringe in one of the testicles of the victims. As the gangsters continue to be killed off, the identity of the killer – or killers – slowly becomes obvious.
Inspirado no romance autobiográfico de Carlo Levi, o filme narra a vida de um médico e escritor antifascista colocado sob prisão domiciliar em 1935 em uma remota vila italiana. Proibido de exercer qualquer atividade, incluindo a prática da medicina, ele descobre o mundo camponês, longe dos círculos intelectuais, até ser libertado dois anos depois já tendo ganhado a estima dos agricultores pobres da região.
