Strong violence and drug use
Country: Italy 2008
Genre: Drama
Director: Matteo Garrone
Featuring: Cast: Salvatore
Vincenzo Altamura, Italo
Distributor: Madman
Language: Italian, Subtitled
Running time: 137 mins
Roberto Saviano’s account of the Camorra, is the Naples-based mafia which virtually runs the city. The film adaptation by Matteo Garrone focuses on a housing estate in Scampia, a suburb of Naples where murders seem to be an everyday occurrence, where young men display a stupid bravado and where even young teenagers become embroiled in the action. The film follows five main stories, just about all of them about poison of one sort or another, whether it is drugs, toxic waste, dirty money or the wasting of humans.
Gomorra (MA 15+) 16, 18, 19 November
It is like a vision of a little hell. The architecture of the housing estate reminds you of a prison, people are killed with the nonchalance of a spit and anyone who thinks they canescape the tentacles of the Camorra quickly learns to the contrary. Competing clans within the Camorra add to the body count. It’s to Matteo Garrone’s credit that none of this is sensationalised. The matter-of-factness in the telling adds to the film’s power. The use of real locations in Naples – the housing estate is real, many of the performers are from the street there – complement the narrative.
Although it’s a demanding film, and a long one, and a very disturbing one, the portrait it paints of this society in the grip of this tawdry but immensely powerful and rich organization is scary indeed.
Source: Margaret Pomerantz – At the Movies.
Compiled by Peter Gillard