“We work like slaves…” A huge health scandal at the heart of one of the best documentaries of the year.

In Sicily, north of Syracuse, one of Europe’s largest petrochemical complexes has been poisoning the environment and people for 70 years. “Better to die of cancer than of starvation”We hear the factory bordering the beach. In a context of silence and resignation, the film gives voice to those who struggle and survive in the heart of a territory sacrificed on the altar of progress and globalization…

“He who speaks takes a risk…”

A man fills up gas at a gas station at midnight. A giant industrial complex can be seen in the background, which completely obstructs and blocks the space. In this apparently completely banal sequence, one thing at least quickly catches the attention of the attentive viewer: the man in question is wearing a gas mask…

A fun outfit for a simple gesture in everyday life. Then the person concerned gives evidence with their face covered, most often from behind. “Here, those who speak take a risk, even if something is known, even if they feel it.

So opens Toxicily, the hilarious and terrifying documentary directed by duo Francois-Xavier Destor and Alfonso Pinto, in theaters this September 18. A truly amazing and unique legacy.

A trained historian and self-taught director, François-Xavier Destor has been exploring the memory of mass crimes in his films since 2014. Alfonso Pinto, born in Palermo, Sicily, is a researcher, photographer and author. After studying modern literature and history and geography, in 2016 he completed his doctoral thesis at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon on the urban imagination in disaster cinema. toxicity It is his first cinematic experience.

The promise of a better life, already forgotten

This documentary, which has already been shown at several festivals, has a fascinating background. That is laughter. In the 1950s, more than half of its residents lived in extreme poverty, with incomes 30% below the national average. The years 1958-1963 are considered to be an economic boom.

At that time, in the context of post-war and reconstruction, oil, “This is a guarantee of a better life for young people and a new, wider horizon vision”We hear and see in the advertising film of that time. Tomorrows that will undoubtedly sing and finally ensure the take off of an island burdened by a catastrophic delay in economic development.

But the local economic miracle, to be fueled by this giant petrochemical complex installed not far from Syracuse in Augusta, quickly revealed its limits and its devastating consequences, as it changed hands over the decades. An ecological and human catastrophe unfolding in absolutely deafening silence. In particular, political figures who are conspicuous by their absence from the documentary.

An explosion in the birth of children suffering from malformations, cancer related to blood poisoning due to mercury, illegal dumping, mutation of fish by uncontrolled discharge into the sea, air not breathable, smell of oil, stubbornness that outgrows clothes… the picture is overwhelming and amazing. A desolate landscape where we find pastures that have only been treated in name with large quantities of highly toxic products.

“We work like slaves”

“Don’t let animals graze at the risk of death” We can read on the sign hanging on the fence. It’s okay. Local farmers also saw others. Herds are sent to graze on these contaminated lands. Besides, where could they go? Meat, vegetables, fruits… everything is contaminated. In the market, a mother and her daughter ask the seller several times where they caught his fish. He pretended not to hear or understand the question. Too bad for the fish, he’d rather leave it on the stand in front of a disgruntled seller. It’s more reasonable…

Residents waver between anger and resignation. As this mother can testify. “If I was rational, I would have left already. I have two children and I don’t see their future here.” Don Palmiro, the local parish priest, has been fighting against this massive pollution for 40 years. At every service, like a rosary, he remembers the list of those who died of cancer caused by this pollution.

Apparently too restless, the churchman was sanctioned by the church elders and transferred to a small congregation. Despite collecting 5,000 signatures in his favor, nothing happened. It will take more to silence him. “We know that in the Augusta area, people end up working like slaves.” He was confused. “If you agree to die of cancer and not of hunger, it means that you have sold your health and life for bread.”

In 1998, the Italian Ministry of the Environment declared the area a Site of National Interest (SIN) for sanitary purposes. At the time of the documentary, in 2022, the clean-up operation had not yet taken place. However, the population has been hoping for this for decades, in the conditions of political inertia. Meanwhile, the slow death continues.