Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gomorrah, 19 Nov 2008
The Plot
On the outskirts of Naples, past the beautifully historic buildings and tourist trappings, lie the city's crumbling estates. Here the city is slowing by torn apart by the Camorra.
The Review
There are many things which the Italians do well - pasta, football, Catholicism - but most importantly, crime. The Camorra, the Mafia-esque mob at the heart of Gomorrah, isn't like the mob seen in a Martin Scorsese film or the Sopranos - there are no gentlemen's agreements and no second chances. This is primal violence of the highest degree - survival of the fittest.
After its bloody beginnings, Gomorrah veers off in five different directions, examining how this poisonous crime organization seeps into every faucet of society in Naples. We follow Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato), an old hand at the business, who pays off the families of mob members who are currently in jail; simple dress maker (Salvatore Cantalupo), who makes the mistake of crossing the mob and helping out their Chinese rivals; two young upstarts (Marco Macor, Toni Petroni) who think they're the next Tony Montana; 13 year old Toto (Salvatore Abruzzese) who falls in with one of the criminal gangs; and Roberto (Carmine Paternoster), a graduate who becomes disillusioned with this new job of managing illegal toxic waster. The entire cast, some of which are new to the acting world, all give sterling performances, especially so the youngsters.
With a few artistic tweaks to the original story, Gomorrah could have easily been made into a `different lives slowly coming together' film in the same vein of Crash or Magnolia. But the Camorra is different. They've fingers in every pie, and their corruption and influence have seeped their way into every area of life in Naples - young to old, rich to poor, white to black, no-one escapes the clutches of the Camorra.
Gomorrah doesn't end with any big set piece and not all the loose ends are tied up. This only serves to show that these are just five individual stories; a snapshot of a city which finds itself unable to rid itself of the Camorra - they can't live with it and they can't live without it.
As the film draws to a close though, the reality of life with the Camorra comes to bear: they have murdered 4,000 people in the last thirty years (more deaths than caused by the IRA or ETA); one clan's daily earnings from drugs are estimated at 500,000 euros; most of their operations are completely legal, including a share in the reconstruction of Ground Zero in New York; they have members in every social class, from doctors to grocery store owners; and they have a monopoly on toxic waste in Italy. Although it'll leave a grim taste in the mouth, staying for these details simply brings home the fact that the last two hours and 17 minutes have been as close to the real Italian mob as any film as going to get.
The Verdict
A bleak view of a broken city, which is both an entirely compelling, but extremely difficult watch.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The grimy, squalid, unglamorous truth, 25 Nov 2008
This is a hugely powerful movie, and could make for a hard watch for some people. Why I enjoyed it - and why I think it is an important book, turned into an important film - is that it highlights a reality of the Camorra that they probably would rather wasn't made public; in the sense that it is not the glamorous life of Al Pacino in the second half of Scarface; its more akin to throwing someone in the canal in Eastenders after shooting them in the back. Lots of big fat men, eating lots of pasta, playing cards with the TV on in the background, wearing wife-beaters are the main protagonists in this world. Occasionally, trying to exert their authority, they get up from their cards and pasta and go out and sweatily murder some kids who have aspirations of being one of the next bosses - a medium sized fish in a massive pond.
The film paints a picture of the Camorra's flat structure (as opposed to the Mafia's hierarchy) with the factions in a state of constant flux and in-fighting. The overall message you are left with is one of small-timers living in squalid conditions and an overriding sense of futility and fragility.
I can easily understand why the Camorra are so cross about this film and the book, as it is, as a policeman from Naples said on Radio 4, one of the most powerful ways of breaking their control, by showing the image they would like to present themselves as (Goodfellas, Sopranos, etc) is a far cry from the reality. The person I watched this didn't enjoy it so much, probably because of the nihilistic message. Sugar-coated this film is not. The author deserves the full extent of government protection.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black but Thrilling Expose of Organised Crime, 18 Feb 2009
In the great Italian Neo-realist tradition - this film follows amateur actors in real situations. Think City of God without the hope and humour.
A scathing expose of the Camorra's strangulation of Southern Italy. From the sweatshops producing dresses for the Hollywood red carpets to the poisoning of their own country. All in the name of profit.
Murder is a daily occurrence and life is worthless to the point where women and children are killed and the bosses say 'everything's okay'.
Writer Roberto Saviano is in hiding after writing the book on which this film is loosely based. My only criticism is the lack of explanation - having read the book first I found it much easier to follow as the viewer is pitched straight into estate life and repeat viewings are rewarded.
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