Gomorrah (2008)

Pretty Good

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

A movie that tells egregiously with facts and invented characters, as much as the book come first of it and not read by me, about the saddening reality of illicit traffics and organized delinquency in the Italian region Campania. The original language is not always the Italian one but it is often the slang spoken in the large southern city of Naples and its hinterland. That made the four stories mixed on this context very close to that Italy's part reality.

This Italian film was one of the newest entries in a version of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which changes at least ten or so of its titles every year, so I was looking forward to finding out whether to was a good film to replace another, and it was rated well by critics. Basically the film consists of five interconnected stories about characters associated with or part of the crime syndicate the Casalesi clan who are based within the Camorra (presumably the title is a deliberate or stylised misspelling of this name), and how the wrongdoings affect themselves and others around them. These include timid middleman Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) who to the families of imprisoned clan members gives them money to support them, thirteen year old grocery delivery boy Totò (Salvatore Abruzzese) who watches bags of drugs distributed between dealers and them running from the police, graduate Roberto (Carmine Paternoster) who is unaware while working in waste management that his boss Franco (Golden Globe (Italy) winner Toni Servillo) is illegally dumping toxic waste like chromium and asbestos in abandoned places, haute couture tailor Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo) who works for garment factory owner Iavarone (Gigio Morra) who has gangster connections and ties, and two cocky out of control teenage gangster wannabes Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) who independently run their own small local racket for distributing stuff. Obviously we see each of them getting involved in the drug dealing trade in some form or another, making money from selling and doing the dirty work to sort any problems, and many other activities, but of course all come to abrupt and consequential conclusions as crime does not pay and their decisions ultimately cause the slow destruction of their personal lives. Also starring Maria Nazionale as Maria, Giovanni Venosa as Giovanni, Vittorio Russo as Vittorio and Bernardino Terracciano as Bernardino. The cast is all good and the direction is well paced, I would not be able to detail specific moments that stood out, only that I know it had a lot of drugs, guns and some small police and criminal chases, obviously the main point of the film was to see the characters not realise their actions would not amount to anything, so it was interesting crime drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, it won the Golden Globes (Italy) for Best Cinematography and Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Director for Matteo Garrone and Best Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe (USA) for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

A tailor, a delivery boy, a waste collector, a tax collector, and two punks walk into a bar...that may have made for a fun movie. Instead, these characters become involved with the mob and the result is a dreary drama. The script is so disjointed that during the first half hour, a multitude of characters is introduced and it is not clear who is doing what to whom. Eventually it becomes apparent that five stories are being told. Unfortunately, none of the five stories is the least bit interesting and film goes on way too long. Not only is the script lackluster, but the direction makes matters worse, with the annoying hand-held camera and clumsy framing.

here is a difference between realistic films, such as those made by John Cassavetes, and cinema verité, or films that try to approximate realism. Realistic films know they are fiction, but nonetheless mimic reality for the sake of art, whereas cinema verité attempts to fool viewers into thinking it is real. Matteo Garrone's 2008, 137 minute long gangster film, Gomorrah (Gomorra), is the latter sort of film, and in its attempt at fooling the viewer lays bare its artifice, as well as its essential failure, insofar as making any claims on greatness. This is not to say it is a bad film, just not a great one. It is a good film, with interesting moments, but far too often the film's multiple characters and stories are wanly sketched and inspire no care, much less recognition, and the action unfolds in a wholly anomic manner. In fact, little of it actually unfolds, and this lack of action; real action, inner action- not bang bang action- makes the film, at its worst, quite boring. Some critics have attempted to call the film Neo-Neo-Realism, but this isn't apt. Nor are the claims that this is a Mafia film. It's not. In fact, it's a Camorra film, and the Italian Camorra (the play on words, with the rhyming Gomorrah, is as forced as it is heavyhanded), based in Naples, is different from the Sicilian-based Mafia, in that, whereas the Mob, and most other organized criminal groups operate in the hierarchical vertical structure of a Family, the Camorra operates in a more horizontal, cell like structure. The Camorra, therefore, has more in common with terrorist groups, such as Al Quaida, in that it centers less power with individuals. But, none of this trivia matters to the film- although many bad critics love to trumpet the factoids they gleaned from press releases or a good Google search as if that made up for the film's lack.