(Somehow I get the feeling this movie‘s not going to be sanctioned by the Ufficio Del Tourism Del Napoli...)
CAST: Toni Servillo, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone, Carmine Paternoster, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale.
DIRECTOR: Matteo Garrone
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one pretty unpleasant take on Bella Napoli - straight ahead…
You have to admit one thing: Roberto Saviano has a huge set of brass balls on him. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked: in 2006, Saviano - an Italian writer/journalist - wrote an expose called “Gomorrah” which blew the lid off the Camorra crime network based in Naples and how it has infiltrated nearly every level of society in that city - if not the regional area of Campagnia. It was pretty much a big “Fuck You” letter to the Camorra. Which, I don’t have to tell you, is kind of like walking up to a really hungry and grumpy lion with very sharp teeth - and kicking it right in the balls.
Sure enough, Saviano was assigned a personal protective team by the Italian government because of the ensuing death threats from the Camorra. Eventually, he had to leave Italy for his own safety. Don’t feel too sorry for him, though, because his book turned the spotlight on the Mafia problem in Southern Italy, and he was branded a national hero because of it. Too bad he has to think twice about every coming back to Bella Italia. What good is it to be a national hero if you can’t ever set foot again in your home land without worrying about someone putting a bullet in the back of your head?
Whatever. “Gomorrah” was an international bestseller that eventually got the attention of American-Italian uber-auteur Francis Ford Coppola, and before you could say “Movie Rights!” Saviano’s book was on its way to the silver screen. I think it’s safe to say that between the book and the movie, Saviano may as well forget about eating pizza in Naples ever again. Or even in Vicenza, Abruzzo, Eraclea, Piedmonte, Trieste, or any other Italian town - big or small. Because if GOMORRAH is to be believed, the Mafia has tentacles everywhere in Italy.
Anyhow, GOMORRAH weaves five train wreck stories about individuals who foolishly either fuck with or run with the Camorra. You just know none of these tales will end with a gorgeous sunset and sex on the beach - whether in drink form or for real. These stories involve the following peeps: (1) Toto (Salvatore Abruzzesse), a young grocery delivery boy who spots some drug dealers chucking a gun and some doobage while hightailing it from the Carabinieri (Italian military police), and then decides to deliver the gun and drugs back to the baddies (bad fucking idea); (2) Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone), two dumbasses who obviously have been watching too many Hollywood Mafia movies - SCARFACE, in particular - and decide to try to infiltrate the Camorra by stealing weapons and using them as leverage to get into the ranks, which is pretty much a worse idea than Toto’s; (3) Roberto (Carmine Paternoster), some sort of eager-beaver white collar yuppie who gets pulled into a Camorra-involved plan to illegally dispose of toxic waste in an abandoned quarry; (4) Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupe), a dressmaker whose business is run by the Camorra, and who decides to help train Chinese tailors on the side, even though the Chinese are in direct competition with the Camorra - yet another bad fucking idea; and (5) Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparate), a courier for the Camorra who finds himself coerced by a duo of vengeful rogue assholes into leading them right to his bosses so they can bust a cap in their asses - probably the worst idea of all.
Like I said before, you don’t have to be psychic to predict that this movie ain’t going to end with a musical number featuring swallows and dancing rabbits. Unless, of course, Marco and Ciro show and blast them all to kingdom come. So… who will survive the Dance with the Camorra? Is that even possible? Can you really make a deal with the devil - and walk away unscathed?
Watch this movie and see. Just don’t blame me if it makes you look at Bella Napoli in a very different light afterwards….
BUT, SERIOUSLY: I lived in Italy for a total of 3.5 years, three of which were spent in Naples. I remember when I first got word of my posting to Naples - I was ecstatic. A couple of friends who’d lived in Italy before me were of a different reaction, however. They warned my that Naples was the “Black Sheep of Italian Cities” and that it was riddled with crime, corruption, and was controlled by the Mafia. They also urged me to ensure I had an iron-clad property insurance policy because I would most certainly be burglarized while I was there.
Well, I was indeed burglarized once, but other than that, my three years in Naples was a dream come true. Think about it: you live in a townhouse on the side of a mountain, and from your balcony you have a view of the following: (1) Mt. Vesuvius, (2) the Bay of Naples, and (3) the lovely island of Capri. It was a wonderful experience, to say the least, and I can't wait to head back later this year on holiday. Suffice it to say, not once did I have a run-in with any Camorras or Mafiosos. The Neapolitans, while often wily and mischievous, were also very earthy, real, and approachable. There are those that say that Neapolitans are different from other Italians. If that is true, I never saw the difference. They were all great.
Which brings us to the film GOMORRAH. I haven’t read Roberto Saviano’s book, but if it’s at all like the film, then it must be a pretty intense read, and I can see why it would attract international attention - as well as the ire of the Camorra. I’m not sure how much involvement producer Francis Ford Coppola had with the making of this movie, but it bears diametrically opposite traits to his GODFATHER films, which were also romantic and glossy in addition to being violent and disturbing. GOMORRAH jettisons the romance and gloss - and focuses on the gritty daily life of those who make the mistake of running with the Camorra.
Credit inevitably must go to director Matteo Garrone for turning GOMORRAH into something approaching a documentary. The proceedings have a clammy, “you-are-right-there” quality to them that is almost unbearable. Garone also imbues each scene with a sense of mounting dread and doom that lends the film an intensely claustrophobic feel that is very far removed from your typical film about Italy, which usually celebrates the country’s lyrical romanticism and aesthetic appeal. GOMORRAH exposes a side to Naples and Italy that the outside world rarely sees. I lived there for three-and-a-half years, and I never saw it - that’s how well-hidden it is…
In the end, GOMORRAH is a disturbing film that you should watch - if only to realize just how true it is that paradoxes of beauty vs. violence and good vs. evil exists all around us. All the time.
