Sur les chemins d'Empédocle
Jean-Pierre Zirn
2000 - 54 min - DV Cam - Couleur - France

Often misunderstood and very painful, multiple sclerosis (MS) is still an incurable disease whose aetiology remains unknown.
It is one of these terrible, irreversible diseases, which gradually destroys all nervous centres and leaves the person handicapped for life.
Living with MS is an everyday challenge for an invalid, but to climb a volcano... Here is a challenge that Patrick imposes on nature. He will fight the disease in a way "exemplary".
His desire ? To climb Vulcano, a small volcano in Sicily. In order to realise his goal, Patrick practises everyday indoors with his physiotherapist, after his part-time in work in EDF, a professional activity that keeps him in a social reality.
So why is the challenge? To prove himself and also to others that this disease is not a death sentence, and despite that fact that the wheelchair prospect is often unavoidable on a long run, one can live with it without being destroyed by it.
The steep paths of Vulcano will be a rough test for Patrick a genuine crater, he says, he will not give up...