Since my long-term girlfriend is from Cinisi (where the film is set) I regularly visit. I also learnt on my first trip out that she is actually a cousin of Giovanni Impastato. Thus I have an interest in the history and eat at the pizza restaurant each time I'm in the area. Not knowing what to expect from this film, I was stunned at the powerful performances and overall impact of this moving drama. Luigi Lo Cascio, baring the chiselled good looks of a young Tim Roth, delivers an outstanding performance far superior to anything any actor produces from Hollywood these days.The locations are beautiful and it's easy to spot the Corso Umberto main street and other sites from Cinisi used in the film.I Cento Passi is an outstanding movie, that presents an effective portrayal of the other side of living with the mafia, far, far away from the more accepted, almost romantic, wiseguy ideals seen in Goodfellas, The Godfather and the like.SPOILERI also found this after trawling the web for more info on the story…BBC, Saturday, 1 May, 2004 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3675535.stm)Gaetano Badalamenti, once known as the "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia, has died at the age of 80 in the US where he was serving a prison sentence. Badalamenti became notorious in the US for masterminding a crime ring that distributed heroin and cocaine through pizza parlours between 1975 and 1984. He was sentenced in 1987 to 47 years in federal prison. Born in the village of Cinisi near Palermo in 1923, Gaetano Badalamenti became a key figure in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in the 1970s.Italy also convicted Badalamenti in absentia of the 1978 murder of a radio DJ who poked fun at the Mafia. The remains of Giuseppe "Peppino" Impastato were found torn apart by a bomb on a Sicilian railway line. Badalamenti was finally convicted of the crime in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed prison official as saying he died of a heart attack at a US federal medical centre in Devens, Massachusetts, on Thursday evening.

Forget all the movie you have seen since now about mafia. Forget good people to one side and bad people to the other, forget blood and gunshots. This is the real story of a boy from Sicily who's family is actually very well connected with Mafia, so to fight Mafia he has to fight against people he loves, and make them take the same risks he takes in this fight. It is also a good portrait about Sicily's way of life and youth rebellion of seventies. I'm sorry for those have to see it in a different language from italian (I should say sicilian) because original dialogs worth it. A word about scriptwriters, Monica Zapelli and Claudio Fava. Their good job comes from their knowledge about Mafia, and their courage actually fighting it.

I was well surprised to see how with intelligence a film with a plot which could be easily mixed up to the typical "mafia's films serie" has been excellently directed and extremely well acted.Normally I do not make any type of comparison to the "golden years" (sixties-seventies) of the Italian cinema but for me is a must today to say that this film and the director: Giordana does not have anything to envy to Francesco Rosi and his films. The actor Luigi Lo Cascio is just excellent well deep involved in his character.Do not miss the film it worths even in DVD or VHS.Rating: 7/10

The Hundred Steps is a GREAT movie, not to be missed by anybody who has grown up swallowing the godfather saccharine. Yes, the Sopranos might be entertaining, but this is real. It does not take more than an ounce of violence to create an incredible dramatic tension. The never changing Sicilian Landscape, the stone faced mafiosi and the fear that you breathe during all the movie make this much more than the unfortunate story of a one-man rebellion.