The full-length feature début of Giuseppe Ferrara is an indictment of an anti-democratic phenomenon that has its roots in feudalism: the mafia. Using this theme, Ferrara was able to analyse the roots and structure of capitalism in all its contradictions. Il sasso in bocca looks at the physical phenomenon of gangsterhood and the mafia underground and its effect on everyday life, economics and social life in Italy and the United States. The film reconstructs historical mafia violent crimes and explains the mythology and the codes of the mafia. It also examines the relationship between state and mafia at the end of the Second World War – when the American government used the relationship between the American branch of the mafia to prepare the invasion of Sicily.
