Nascita e morte nel Meridione

The film represents, in essential and emblematic terms, the precarious life of a small village about 35 kilometres from Potenza, Lucania. Birth and death are especially meaningful for villagers. Birth means another mouth to be fed, and people already have to struggle for survival. As for death, one is buried as one lived, in poverty. When a child is born in San Cataldo, the community is anxious to magically keep him away from a threatening future.