Gomorrah

Present-day Napolitan godfathers wear cheap tracksuits, live in ugly concrete blocks and die un-heroic deaths. Matteo Garrone’s presentation of Southern Italy’s criminal network is uncompromisingly – almost depressingly – realistic, allowing the hand-held camera to look round grey derelict landscapes and follow the everyday dealings of its doomed characters, most of who are impressively played by non-professional actors. Critics universally hail “Gomorrah” as a masterpiece of the Mafia genre.

“Gomorrah” interweaves five distinct stories of people who are related to Cammora – a far-reaching organized crime group that is undergoing a crisis. 13-year-old Totò (Salvatore Abruzzese) is excited about his initiation into the gang, yet its demands are more than the boy has imagined. Two other youngsters – Marco and Ciro (Marco Macor and Ciro Petrone) – are, too, captivated by the gang. After coming across a stash of weapons, they roam around Naples playing Mafiosi. Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo), a skilled couturier experiences their wrath when he tries to make a few extra euros in a Chinese textile factory. Meanwhile Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) gets to see what happens when that power structure begins to dwindle. Merely an accountant who handles Cammora’s “payroll”, Don Ciro is terrified to discover that the authority of his bosses can no longer shield him from the day-to-day war in the streets. Finally, there is Roberto (Carmine Paternoster), an educated young man working for a high-rank Mafioso (Toni Servillo) who oversees illegal disposal of toxic waste.

“Gomorrah” is universally praised for its stark depiction of this inescapable world – first glanced at by Roberto Saviano’s best-selling novel on which the film is based. They say that after the book’s publication, Saviano had to live under constant police surveillance to escape Cammora’s vengeful disapproval of its own portrait. Is that not the best commendation one can get?

Justinas Suliokas