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Flicks - Gomorrah Gomorrah removes all traces of glamour and attractiveness from organized crime, affirming the soul of humanity in the midst of the worst degradation. by Chris Dashiell - The Film Snob The gangster film at its best explores the nature of evil, at its worst it's just cheap sensationalism peddling a kind of criminal prestige, in which organized crime becomes entertainment. Ever since The Godfather movies, realistic filmmakers have been de-romanticizing the Mafia, and in Gomorrah, a new film by Italian director Matteo Garrone, that process has reached its fulfillment.
Gomorrah takes place in a suburb of Naples called Scampia, most of the action occurring in one huge, hideous concrete housing project, a claustrophobic hive of substandard apartments connected by alleys and catwalks. In interweaving stories we gradually get to know a group of characters whose lives are controlled or affected by the Camorra, the powerful Neapolitan crime syndicate. A boy delivers groceries for a few euros before volunteering to be initiated into the drug traffic. A middle-aged accountant delivers the syndicate's money to its clients in the project, but is shaken by the outbreak of gang warfare. A dress designer tries to moonlight for extra money at a Chinese-owned factory, drawing the attention of his crooked boss. A fixer for the waste disposal cartel brings his young protégé along as he makes arrangements for the illegal burial of toxic chemicals. And two crazy, out-of-control teenagers dream of being Al Pacino in Scarface, stumbling onto a cache of guns and wreaking havoc until the mob starts to take notice.
Garrone's widescreen steadicam moves stealthily through this treacherous landscape while the film shifts rhythmically between each story. A team of screenwriters have helped Roberto Saviano adapt his bestselling expose of the Camorra, and the movie has a very patient, detailed, unemphatic and unsentimental style. This is how it is when the entire world surrounding you is criminally corrupt, and it's a disturbing experience. These people are not the bosses and big shots, they're the foot soldiers, the people caught in the web, ultimately disposable, which is the source of the film's sense of horror. Professional actors mix with actual residents—I especially admired Gianfelice Imparato as the mob accountant trying to survive. And one very moving aspect of the picture is that it shows some characters who choose to say "No." To do so means living with less money, at best, but gaining a good conscience.
This forthright and brutally honest movie removes all traces of glamour and attractiveness from organized crime, affirming the soul of humanity in the midst of the worst degradation. Gomorrah is a powerful and essential film.