Niccolò Ammaniti (b. 1966) is one of the most prominent writers of modern Italy, winner of several prestigious awards. For his last novel, “As God Commands” (2006), he received the famous Strega Prize (analogous to the French Goncourt), and now this book has formed the basis of a film directed by the cult director Gabriele Salvatores. The heroes of the novel are the inhabitants of a provincial Italian town, eleven-year-old Christiano Zena and his unemployed father Rino, a cruel, embittered and heavy drinker. Rino loves his son as best he can and raises him in accordance with his understanding of what a real man should be. One day, the elder Zena and two of his friends - restless drunkards like him - decide to rob an ATM and finally live like human beings. But their plans are not destined to come true - on the stormy night on which they planned the robbery, terrible events occur that turn their whole lives upside down...