Acla's Descent into Floristella

Acla's Descent into Floristella (1992) is an Italian drama you can watch online on iFILM. Sicily, the 1930s. Twelve-year-old Aclà is sold by his destitute parents to the owner of the Floristella sulfur mine. Monday through Saturday he works underground by candlelight, in tunnels barely wide enough to move through, in heat that stays with you.

The overseer beats him. Older workers threaten him. There are no adults in his corner. What Aclà holds onto is an image of the sea — somewhere beyond the mine, the hillside, all of it. Francesco Cusimano plays the boy with striking restraint; Tony Sperandeo and Luigi Maria Burruano are among the supporting cast. The feature debut of director Aurelio Grimaldi, based on a novel.

Child labor in Sicily's sulfur industry persisted well into the twentieth century. Grimaldi's film doesn't let you file Aclà away as a historical abstraction — he stays a specific child in specific circumstances, and that specificity is what makes the film matter. Stream Acla's Descent into Floristella (1992) online on iFILM.