Stars:
***
Rating: Not Rated but should be R for language and excessive violence
Run
Time: 2
hours, 15 minutes
The Italian
mob is brutally up front and center in this maddening but ultimately compelling
drama.
Maddening
for its muddled grey areas and carelessly threaded vignettes. For all its
Goodfellas-esque allure “Gomorrah” bewilders with the gritty, uncompromising
glare of chaos and mayhem.
The Neapolitan
Mafia – known as Camorra – is a group of roughly one hundred battling clans (specializing
in drugs and weapons smuggling) that has fingers in every pot from high fashion
to toxic waste.
“Gomorrah”
weaves together a handful of freely interpreted tales of the criminal
underworld – the ubiquitous ambitious teen climbing the ranks by running small
jobs, a savvy tailor who steps out of his mob-controlled box to do business
with Asian competitors and a tetchy money man – all of whom live their lives in
relative fear while a couple of wasted wannabes dream
of bigger fish with excess swagger and stupidity.
Best of the
bunch is a smooth as silk kingpin who takes on a wet-behind-the-ears
apprentice, hoping to grease him into a slick and oily operator.
There’s no
justice served in Matteo Garrone’s unsentimental tragedy, a take-no-prisoners
look at the hardcore truths behind a faction of organized crime reputed to have
murdered close to five thousand souls since the 1970s.
Its ugly,
it’s forceful and it all takes hold without benefit of humor, glamour or a narrative
life-preserver. But beyond the murky joylessness is a harsh reality that can’t
be ignored, a carnivorous candor that permeates every frame with blood-curdling
fascination and dread.
Revenge,
served very cold, is the life-force of the Comorra, so much so that
screenwriter Roberto Saviano, on whose 2006 non-fiction book the film is based,
is currently living under permanent armed security. Say no more.