Ambitious magistrate Vittoria (Valeria Solarino) makes the dramatic decision to relocate from the north to the south of Italy with one mission in mind – to defeat the Calabrian ‘‘Ndrangheta’ mafia. She is flabbergasted by the violence, the cruelty and the killings that Mafia men project – even youngsters are not spared. But instead of targeting the men, Vittoria tries a new approach; an appeal to the women involved in these circles. The bosses’ wives are as hard as nails; they will not talk and will not betray their powerful husbands, but could it be they have a soft spot for their own children?
The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each with song, guitar, and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca, an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final rumba.