(Thanks to Sanewar and Lucifersam for recommending Gomorrah)Â
Gomorrah (Italian) takes the gangster/Mafia genre of movies to an entirely new level.
If Godfather, Scarface and even Cidade de Deus (City of God)Â glorified the criminals, put them up on a pedestal and made them seem almost godly despite their violence, Gomorrah knocks them off their high perch and brings the hoodlums and dregs of society down to earth.
Shows the violent criminals for what they are – plain scum.
Based on Roberto Saviano’s bestselling expose of the Cammora criminal organization in Naples and brilliantly directed by Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah presents a violence that’s so raw, so realistic and so absent of any sugercoating.
Bereft of routine cinematic exaggeration and shorn of the romantic vision of guns blazing violently, Gomorrah is the finest exemplar of the crime genre in the last 25 years.
Some members of the audience may even be repelled by the matter of fact banality to the violence. But such is life in present-day Naples (for all you schmucks ignorant of geography, Naples is in Italy).
Unlike in Godfather or Scarface, there are no happy moments in Gomorrah. It’s almost as if the movie has vowed not to entertain you but actually does so immensely.
Given the Cammora’s tentacles into every walk of life and touching every class of society, the violence, the corruption, the drugs, the betrayal, the distrust and its twin brother fear are forever overground not lurking below the surface.
Gomorrah showcases brilliantly the collapse of civic society in the Naples region through five separate stories, whose only connection is that they are all connected to crime in some way:
* Pasquale – A haute couture tailor for a Gomorrah business, Pasquale gets dragged into a violent attack when he helps a Chinese businessman to make the same fashion apparel
* Young Toto – Son of a small grocery-store owner, the young kid’s initiation into crime happens soon after he finds and returns a gun and drugs when the police bust some gang members Continue reading »
Recent Comments