ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

The Godfather and Goodfellas are just two of the landmark American films that have given us an insider’s view of the evils of organised crime. Gomorrah (or Gomorra in its original Italian version) goes one step further, constructing a compelling, journalistic account of the way the Mafia-style Camorra control and distort every aspect of daily life in modern Naples.

Based on the bestselling book by Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah is a sweeping, nail-biting epic that offers startling insights into the violence and chaos of a dog-eat-dog society.

Gomorrah doesn’t try to impose a tidy structure on the events that Saviano revealed in his angry book. Instead, it covers a number of different stories illustrating the way that the Camorra’s influence stretches into every aspect of Neapolitan life.

It is a film without sentiment that presents us with the facts and leaves the viewer to make their own judgements.

The stand-out characters include gun-totin’ friends Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Toni Petroni) who have the tragic arrogance of youth in their belief that they can operate independently and live to tell the tale.

Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo) is a tailor recruited to make dresses for the Camorra but who stupidly decides to moonlight for their Chinese rivals. Franco (Toni Servillo) is the implacable face of corrupt business, laundering Camorra money through the illegal dumping of toxic waste.

The splintered focus of Gomorrah sometimes works against the overall impact of the production, but this is still an ambitious, eye-opening mosaic of a film that richly deserved its Grand Prix win at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo
Screenwriters: Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Massimo Gaudioso, Matteo Garrone, Roberto Saviano based on the novel by Saviano
Certificate: 15
Running time: 137 mins
Country: Italy
Year: 2008

© Allan Hunter, 2008