ACLA'S DESCENT INTO FLORISTELLA

Inspired by true events, ACLA is an unflinching exploration of social mores and disturbing abuses largely unfamiliar to American audiences. Set in Sicily in the 1930s this haunting motion picture chronicles a major turning point in the life of Acla, a feisty 12-year-old sold by his destitute parents to work in the underground sulfur mines in Floristella.

Overworked and underfed, Acla toils from Monday to Saturday beside his father and older brothers in the steamy, candle-lit labyrinths. The heat underground is nearly unbearable and dozens of boys between the ages of 10 and 18 are forced to strip and hammer away deep in the caverns. At night they huddle together in the communal sleeping chambers, a lonely sea of aching flesh. Repeatedly beaten by his brutal “owner” and tormented by the ever-present specter of rape and sexual abuse, Acla attempts to escape... with dire consequences for both his family and himself. Hailed by film festivals critics throughout Europe and Canada, ACLA is a bold, revisionist account of the enslavement and inhumanity rampant throughout Italy in the days preceding World War II.

An astonishingly sensual portrait of institutionalized cruelty, Grimaldi’s vision exposes the endless cycle of religious hypocrisy and poverty that continues to produce children like Acla and his equally entrapped young friends.

Strong language, provocative subject matter. (Italian, 1992) Director: Aurelio Grimaldi. Cast: Francesco Cusimano, Tony Sperandeo, Luigi Maria Burruano, Lucia Sardo. Color. Running time: 86 minutes. Italian with English Subtitles. Letterbox format. Unrated.