Plot

The double meaning in french of film title MINEURS resume the sense of the film: mineurs as children and as mineworkers in the coalmines. Italy, at the beginning of the sixties. In a little village in Lucanie, little region in the south, four children live in a situation of absolute poverty, but with their plays in the street succeed in living in happiness. In the air the menace and, in the same time, the hope of a telephonic convocation by their relatives, already at work in coalmines in Belgie, in the mine district of Limburg. Two of our children leave with their families, to reach the numerous Italian community of Flandres. The children will have a lot of problems, in the school and with the language, to integrate in a hostile ambient, but, at the end the will succeed.—Fulvio Wetzl

1961. Four children in a village in Lucania. Armando is the son of a miner, Egidio of a tailor. Mario is the son of the doctor whilst Vito's father is a sculptor. They all meet at school where their teacher Fernando teaches them ethics, critic and historical awareness. Many men from the village have already moved to Belgium to work in the coal mines. Some of them have come back affected by silicosis. Armando and Egidio will soon leave too. Armando, with his mother Vitina, goes to rejoin his father and brothers. Egidio leaves with all the family. In Belgium adults face exploitation and bad life conditions, while the children have to find a way to integrate into their new school.—Giffoni Film Festival