Apnea
Directed by
The death certificate stated heart attack as the cause of death of Franz, former fencing champion turned successful tanning factory owner. The news comes painfully unexplainable to Paolo (Claudio Santamaria), Franz's old friend and sports companion. His suspicions raised, the taciturn Paolo begins investigating the circumstances surrounding his friend's death, leading him into the world of the wealthy industrialist families of northeast Italy, where the work ethic is as strong as unscrupulousness is rife, where advanced technologies and occupational hazards are equally accepted but the latter hidden behind a façade of efficiency and opulence, buried in undiscoverable secrecy. In this intriguing enquiry film, Santamaria skilfully plays his role to bring out the issues of work-related accidents, exploitation of illegal workers and industrial waste pollution.
«On closer look, Paolo's inquiry is not only concerned with the circumstances of his friend's death; it delves into the wider surroundings and predominant mindset. A mindset that sets work and profits above all else. The shabby practices of some tanning factories in northeast Italy are just a small example of the way businesses are run in this country, where over 3 persons die in work-related accidents every day. Working in apnea to avoid inhaling poisonous gases is not a fiction of my imagination: many work-related deaths have been attributed to this risk».
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Pollution
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