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A young man struggles to hold on to his life with his family against the judgment of those who want to help him in this drama from Italy. Salvatore (Allesandro Mallia) is a thirteen-year-old who has become the primary breadwinner in his family after the unexpected death of his parents. Salvatore has a younger sister and a grandmother to look after, and while at first he tried to juggle school with the fishing and tomato farming that kept the family fed and the bills paid, the youngster has abandoned his studies, at least for the meantime, in the interest of keeping the household together. Salvatore's truancy draws the attention of Laura Valvo (Galatea Ranzi), a social worker who becomes aware of his situation. Laura wants to place Salvatore with a foster family and apply to a Catholic charity to help look after his sister and grandmother, but Salvatore will have no part of this. As Salvatore struggles to keep his family together, he's helped by a most unlikely ally -- Marco Brioni (Enrico Lo Verso), the teacher whose classroom he abandoned to help his relations. Salvatore -- Questa E'La Vita was the first feature film from director Gian Paolo Cugno.