"This film is about the fifties and sixties. No nostalgia, anger, nor rhetoric; it does however, express very strong feelings, including irony and drawing apart in a description of Italy that is no more, for better understanding of Italy such as we know it today. People laugh and cry in that way, at that time."

     Thus does Director Gianni Amelio define his film, winner of the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival/98. These are six years in the lives of two brothers from Sicily, from 1958 to 1964, making their way to Sicily in search of work. These years are depicted in six days chosen at random, each with a name: arrival, treachery, money, cards, blood, and family. Giovani is illiterate.

     His dream is to see his youngest brother, Pietro, graduate as an elementary school teacher. He does not dream of riches or financial gain, but would rather only that the brother might benefit from the "treasure" of knowledge and of culture, sources for human enrichment. This project, however, eventually becomes complex and disturbing for both as they discover the hard way, the costs of existing.