A Street in Palermo

Shut inside their cars two women face off in a silent duel that is fought out in the intimate violence of their stares A wholly female duel punctuated by the refusal to drink eat and sleep more obstinate than the sun of Palermo and more stubborn than the ferocity of the men who surround them For as in every duel it is a question of life or death Its a Sunday afternoon The sirocco is blowing pitilessly in Palermo when Rosa and Clara lose their way in the streets of the city and end up in a sort of alley Via Castellana Bandiera At the same moment another car driven by Samira crammed with members of the Calafiore family arrives from the opposite direction and enters the same street