Directed by Marco Amenta
Growing up in Palermo, Sicily, the young Marco Amenta witnessed three hits on the street where he lived. Years later, as a photojournalist, he took many pictures of dead people who were casualties of the Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia). When he was 18 years of age, his father persuaded him to live in France but the tale of Rita Atria brought him back to his island homeland. The 17 year-old Sicilian girl from a Mafia family, had turned against the Cosa Nostra in 1991 to avenge the murders of her father and brother. Using her childhood diaries, she named names and revealed secrets including the criminal acts by those in her own family. This earned her death threats and condemnation from those around her including her mother.
Amenta made the documentary A Girl Against the Mafia because he was fascinated by Atria’s story and he wanted to counteract the Hollywood depictions of Mafia bosses as some sort of heroes. After being pursued through the courts (as the Cosa Nostra had changed their tactics), he changed the names and this ‘fictional’ account looks more at the journey taken by the girl (Veronica D’Agostino) as she grows up and discovers that her father is not the man she thinks he is. It closely follows Atria’s story and her decision to testify against the people who had surrounded her from birth. This was a major turning point in Sicily’s war against organised crime, but breaking the code of silence sealed her demise.
This shocking story does unfold like one of the Hollywood Mafia thrillers but it is Rita Atria who emerges as the hero.
The Sicilian Girl is the second last film in the Perth International Arts Festival and screens at Somerville 5-11 April and Joondalup Pines 12-18 April at 7.30pm. See www.perthfestival.com.au for more details.
Lezly Herbert
