Gomorrah

2008


Director Matteo Garrone

There are several reasons why, in this humble reviewer’s opinion, Goodfellas is a better, more interesting film than The Godfather. But one reason stands out. Ultimately, the majority of Mafiosi are not living the pampered, privileged life of the Corleones; they are enduring the brutal, bloody, violent, ambitious dregs experienced by Henry Hill and his posse. There is a similar sense of barrel-scraping desperation to Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah. This is highlighted beautifully in one particular scene in a morgue: after delivering the recently assassinated corpse of their young comrade, a group of equally junior gang members stand around aimlessly discussing what to do next. Do they retaliate? Should they kill someone? Who do they kill? Who are they allowed to kill? Who is giving the orders here? No one seems to know. This is what makes Garrone’s adaptation of Roberto Saviano’s book such an intriguing, fascinating piece of cinema. People are being stepped upon constantly … and we don’t even know who’s wearing the boot.

The narrative is separated into five stories involving people involved - some loosely, some willingly - with Casalesi clan, a crime syndicate within the Camorra, which is based in Naples and Caserta in the southern Italian region of Campania. There is Don Ciro, a nervous wreck of a man, who delivers money to the families of imprisoned clan members. Totò is thirteen-years-old and delivers groceries for his mother, yet yearns to become a member of the local crime organisation. Roberto is a recent graduate beginning work for Franco in the line of waste management, dumping toxic waste wherever cheapest with little cost spent on labour, regardless of the danger to their employees. Pasquale is a tailor forced to undercut Camorra-controlled firms by working secretively with a local Chinese branch in an effort to support his family. And lastly there is Marco and Ciro, two wayward and foolishly ambitious teens with such a love of Scarface that they dream of one day becoming great crime bosses themselves in the vein of the legendary Tony Montana, but in the mean time have to make do with petty theft, drawing the ire of the local gang.

Gomorrah barely feels like a fiction. Admittedly it is based on real organizations and locations, but only in the same way as The Godfather, Scarface or Donnie Brasco. But whilst those films still possess the Hollywood sheen of glamorised ‘movies’, Gomorrah, with it dirty sets, shaking camera, and sudden cuts, feels much closer to documentary form. And this surely isn’t an accident. Much like Fernando Meirelles’ 2002 Brazilian crime drama City of God paints over its grimy surface with occasional flashes of cinematic dazzle to avoid the documentary label, so too does Gomorrah. But for all the visual flair (the opening shot inside a tanning booth is particularly impressive) and attractive framing (as Roberto and Franco plan where their next dump will be) there is simply no getting away from the despair.

It is hard work. Everyone is in perpetual danger of assassination; with more surprise killings than an episode of 24, Gomorrah racks up an impressive, uncompromising body count, as women and even children are ruthlessly put to the sword. In that respect, it is reminiscent of the American television series The Wire, with the Sette pelazzi where Totò lives conjuring dark memories of the similarly impoverished, drug-addled projects from David Simon’s superb investigation into the inner-workings of Baltimore’s drug dilemma.
The acting is hard to gauge given the non-fictional aura, but needless to say the cast are universally excellent. From the timid mumblings of Gianfelice Imparato’s Don Ciro to the brash, cocky posturing Marco Macor and Ciro Petrone’s young, skinny Tony Montana wannabes.

Not only is the action taken away from the upper echelons of the organization, but it is taken away from the gangsters entirely, and placed in the hands of those in society who suffer the most as a result. It is then that Gomorrah ceases merely being interesting or entertaining, and becomes something much more socially stimulating.

It might not sizzle quite like City of God, or feel as crisp as Goodfellas, or even as outrageously exciting as Scarface, but Gomorrah is one of the most harrowing, visceral, intriguing, insightful investigations into the seedy underbelly of crime.

**** / *****

That lava lamp was starting to get on his nerves.