AllMovie

The real-life tragedies wrought by organized crime are mirrored in this fast-paced, suspense-filled action thriller by Damiano Damiani about Mario (Michele Placido), a young man from a Sicilian family who runs a pizza place in Brooklyn. All seems normal until Mario is called to Palermo by the Mafia, and his role as a hitman is revealed. On the way to his assassination job, Mario stops by his impoverished family's home and cunningly tries to manipulate his brother Michele (Mark Chase) into joining him. Unlike Mario, Mark has an extreme aversion to killing anything, not even the colt in a field that his brother wants him to "practice" on. But the love of Michele's young life, Cecilia (Simona Cavallario), a 14-year-old teen forced into prostitution by her mother, needs to be saved from her degrading existence -- and so Michele is vulnerable to making some quick cash against his better judgment. The results of his decision and Mario's hit are not the standard gore and violence otherwise seen in action thrillers, but a more human and humane look at the real effects of murder on the innocent, and the not so innocent.