21/10/2025 - Vincenzo Alfieri adapts the book by reporter Federica Angeli about the murder of Willy Monteiro Duarte by giving a vivid and coherent account of the hours preceding the tragedy

Justin De Vivo (at the forefront) and Francesco Gheghi in 40 secondi

In the summer of Covid, a small town on the outskirts of Rome, two groups of 20-year-olds face to face, an explosion of unmotivated violence. In the night between the 5 and 6 September 2020, in Colleferro, a young man of Cape Verdean origins, Willy Monteiro Duarte, loses his life in front of a nightclub. He is beaten to a pulp, until he remains inert on the asphalt, for having defended a friend during a trivial quarrel between boys. Attacking the young man are two twin brothers, MMA fighters. All occurs in barely 40 seconds. A shocking fact that, for weeks, has filled the pages of newspapers, taken up hours of TV broadcast, and troubled experts, all wondering how such ferocity for such futile motives could be possible. There is no real answer, but in his new film, 40 secondi, presented at the 20th Rome Film Fest, director Vincenzo Alfieri (Il corpo [+see also:
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Written by the director together with Giuseppe G. Stasi (the acclaimed series The Bad Guy [+see also:
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The four narratives begin in the morning and converge at the end at 3am in the same cursed place, that square in front of the nightclub, where because of an awkward remark addressed to Michelle the friends violently get heated. It could have ended here, but instead the arrival of the twins and their brutal, outsized intervention will leave Willy on the ground. Well constructed in each part, Alfieri’s film, in addition to recalling the event, is a snapshot of an angry youth, without morals, in a province where boredom reigns. The cast, made up of both professional actors (Francesco Di Leva, Sergio Rubini and Maurizio Lombardi amongst them) and amateurs from street casting, perfectly adheres to the plot. The language and way of being of 20-year-olds in those parts have been carefully studied by the director over months of interviews on the ground, and it shows. A good piece of social cinema, the film serves as a warning and, as was the case last year for The Boy with Pink Pants [+see also:
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40 secondi was produced by Eagle Pictures, which will release it in Italian cinemas on 19 November.

(Translated from Italian)