Gomorrah ****
Directed by: Matteo Garrone.
Written By: Maurizio Braucci & Ugo Chiti & Gianni Di Gregorio & Matteo Garrone & Massimo Gaudioso & Roberto Saviano based on the book by Roberto Saviano.
Starring: Salvatore Abruzzese (Totò), Gianfelice Imparato (Don Ciro), Salvatore Cantalupo (Pasquale), Marco Macor (Marco), Ciro Petrone (Ciro), Toni Servillo (Franco), Carmine Paternoster (Roberto), Maria Nazionale (Maria).
Gomorrah is a different kind of gangster movie. It is a film devoid of all the glamour we are used to seeing with movies about the mob. Being a gangster has often been portrayed as fun in the movies, and even when the “heroes” of these films meet their inevitable downfall, they seem to go out in a blaze or glory, forever cementing their immortality. There is none of that in Gomorrah. This is a film that looks at the inner works of the Camorra, Italy’s “Other Mafia” – the one we don’t hear about very often. They envision themselves almost like a large multinational corporation. The people at the top are making billions, while the ones underneath get exploited and killed – and often they don’t even know who they are being killed for. This isn’t a movie that concentrates on the big guys – this is one that concentrates on the small guys.
The film is based on the bestselling book by Roberto Saviano, who has been under police protection since the book’s publication in 2006. The book gained notoriety not because it was the first book about the Camorra – it wasn’t – but because of the insider’s view it had, and the bravery Savinao showed in naming names. Saviano was never apart of the Camorra, but he was connected to it – everyone in Naples seems to be in one way or another.
From the book, director Matteo Garrone and his five co-writers, including Saviano, have picked out five separate stories. One is about a young boy, Toto, who desperately wants to be apart of the Camorra, goes through a cruel, grueling initiation, and is eventually used to help in the murder of a supposed informant, who he was close to. Another is about two teenagers, who view themselves as Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino in Scarface for those who don’t know). They are brazen in that they will steal from anyone, and brush aside warnings from the Camorra until there are no warnings left. Another involves a tailor, who slaves away making high quality dresses for little to no money, and gets wrath brought down upon himself when he dares to share his secrets with the Camorra’s Chinese competition. Another is about a man whose lone job it is to go around and deliver money to the relatives of Camorra gangsters who have wound up dead or is prison, and has to deal with the constant complaints of the people who want more. And finally, there is the story of a man who helps companies dispose of their toxic waste at rock bottom prices – because he’ll dump it just about anywhere there is room – and his young apprentice (who could easily be a stand in for Saviano) who eventually becomes sick of what they are doing.
If I have made this movie sound something akin to Babel or Crash, let me say now it isn’t. These characters are not really connected with each, except that they are all apart of the same system of corruption. The film offers no answers for what it portrays, no deeper meaning, no moralizing. It simply shows, in almost documentary like realism, they day in, day out of their lives that are constantly interrupted by violence. Director Garrone pays obvious homage to many of Italy’s great filmmakers – there are shots and themes that echo Rosi, Fellini,
Rossellini, Antonioni along with many others – but this a film unto itself. The acting is universally excellent, while never drawing attention to itself. The violence is strong and constant. The movie offers no answers, no moralizing. It’s simply a portrait of corruption and greed and how the Camorra infests everything it touches – rotting it from the inside out. Some will undoubtedly complain that the movie doesn’t tie everything together, that there appears to be no story, no message. But that is one of the movies strengths, not one of its weaknesses. No one in the film – including the audience - comes away clean.
Directed by: Matteo Garrone.
Written By: Maurizio Braucci & Ugo Chiti & Gianni Di Gregorio & Matteo Garrone & Massimo Gaudioso & Roberto Saviano based on the book by Roberto Saviano.
Starring: Salvatore Abruzzese (Totò), Gianfelice Imparato (Don Ciro), Salvatore Cantalupo (Pasquale), Marco Macor (Marco), Ciro Petrone (Ciro), Toni Servillo (Franco), Carmine Paternoster (Roberto), Maria Nazionale (Maria).
Gomorrah is a different kind of gangster movie. It is a film devoid of all the glamour we are used to seeing with movies about the mob. Being a gangster has often been portrayed as fun in the movies, and even when the “heroes” of these films meet their inevitable downfall, they seem to go out in a blaze or glory, forever cementing their immortality. There is none of that in Gomorrah. This is a film that looks at the inner works of the Camorra, Italy’s “Other Mafia” – the one we don’t hear about very often. They envision themselves almost like a large multinational corporation. The people at the top are making billions, while the ones underneath get exploited and killed – and often they don’t even know who they are being killed for. This isn’t a movie that concentrates on the big guys – this is one that concentrates on the small guys.
The film is based on the bestselling book by Roberto Saviano, who has been under police protection since the book’s publication in 2006. The book gained notoriety not because it was the first book about the Camorra – it wasn’t – but because of the insider’s view it had, and the bravery Savinao showed in naming names. Saviano was never apart of the Camorra, but he was connected to it – everyone in Naples seems to be in one way or another.
From the book, director Matteo Garrone and his five co-writers, including Saviano, have picked out five separate stories. One is about a young boy, Toto, who desperately wants to be apart of the Camorra, goes through a cruel, grueling initiation, and is eventually used to help in the murder of a supposed informant, who he was close to. Another is about two teenagers, who view themselves as Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino in Scarface for those who don’t know). They are brazen in that they will steal from anyone, and brush aside warnings from the Camorra until there are no warnings left. Another involves a tailor, who slaves away making high quality dresses for little to no money, and gets wrath brought down upon himself when he dares to share his secrets with the Camorra’s Chinese competition. Another is about a man whose lone job it is to go around and deliver money to the relatives of Camorra gangsters who have wound up dead or is prison, and has to deal with the constant complaints of the people who want more. And finally, there is the story of a man who helps companies dispose of their toxic waste at rock bottom prices – because he’ll dump it just about anywhere there is room – and his young apprentice (who could easily be a stand in for Saviano) who eventually becomes sick of what they are doing.
If I have made this movie sound something akin to Babel or Crash, let me say now it isn’t. These characters are not really connected with each, except that they are all apart of the same system of corruption. The film offers no answers for what it portrays, no deeper meaning, no moralizing. It simply shows, in almost documentary like realism, they day in, day out of their lives that are constantly interrupted by violence. Director Garrone pays obvious homage to many of Italy’s great filmmakers – there are shots and themes that echo Rosi, Fellini,
Rossellini, Antonioni along with many others – but this a film unto itself. The acting is universally excellent, while never drawing attention to itself. The violence is strong and constant. The movie offers no answers, no moralizing. It’s simply a portrait of corruption and greed and how the Camorra infests everything it touches – rotting it from the inside out. Some will undoubtedly complain that the movie doesn’t tie everything together, that there appears to be no story, no message. But that is one of the movies strengths, not one of its weaknesses. No one in the film – including the audience - comes away clean. 
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