Review - Gomorrah

As one watches the Godfather or Goodfellas, life in organised crime does look sort of glamorous – until the bullets start flying and the knives start slitting throats, of course. In Gomorrah, it doesn’t seem glamorous for even a second. This brutal Italian film examines the Camorra, Naples’ version of the Sicilian Mafia, and the damage it does. As you watch these men and boys go about their lives in crumbling concrete estates soaked in grey light, you would be forgiven for thinking you were watching a 1980s Mike Leigh film. This is certainly not the sun-drenched Italy of travel brochures, all blue seas and pasta.

Gomorrah follows the lives of disparate people involved with the Camorra, which the viewer learns has its finger in many pies (toxic waste dumping being the most upsetting for someone like me who was brought up on Captain Planet). Young Totò (Salvatore Abruzzese) is a new recruit who we see losing his innocence quite spectacularly. The fact that this boy does so in an England football shirt makes it all the more upsetting. Marco (Marco Macor, a dead ringer for a young Robert De Niro) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) are two bumbling wannabe gangsters taking on the local Don. Pasquale (Salvatore Contalupo) is a tailor creating haute couture gowns for the Camorra who attempts some very risky moonlighting for a rival, and Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) is a money collector trying to survive as a turf war rages around him. These are just some of the stories woven together to form a picture of a city living in fear of this organisation, and there are none more afraid than those working for it.

The film is based on a book by Roberto Saviano, who now lives under police protection because of the attention he has brought to this secret society. Shot in a grainy, semi-documentary style, everything feels extremely authentic. The lingering shots do slow the pace to a crawl at times and it is not always clear which sides some of the characters are on, but overall this is a bloody and eye-opening introduction to a way of life we don’t often hear about, and one which seems to be without end.