This movie is wrapped around the Italian moral of family. For Italians family always comes first, and family is everything. The opening scene of the movie when the family is all gathered for a celebration, and Peppino is still a kid shows how he doesn't have the best relationship with his own father. He is more tied to his uncle, who lets him have fun and do things. When Peppino's uncle gets killed is the turning point in his head about the mafia because he couldn't figure out who killed his uncle and one of the communists told him that it was someone in his own group. This led Peppino to start questioning the Mafia and. whether it is good or not. At his uncle's funeral he is depicted doing a lot of thinking and it is evident that he is unhappy with the mafia. His uncle's death, paired with not having a tight relationship with his dad is often what leads him to rebel against the mafia. When his dad is killed, he does not seem as upset about it as his brother was. This shows that he was anticipating something happening to his dad and he was not going to let that stop him from rebelling.
A big question of this movie is whether obedience is good or not. It depends on how you look at it. For Peppino, it depends on if he likes his family or his political agenda more. Yes he did end up waking up people about his political agenda, but at what cost? He got kicked out of his own home, his father got killed, and then even he got killed. If he truly loved his father then he would have never thought twice to go against him. I disagree with what Peppino was doing. For Italians family is everything and his father only wanted the best for him. To completely go against them was not the right thing to do and he caused more harm than good. I would have never done that. The worst part about it is that after Peppino disgraced his father and put him at harm, his father went to America to try to find a job for Peppino and make a better life for him but Peppino still refused resulting in their death.
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