Gomorra / Featuring Salvatore Abruzzese – Gianfelice Imparato – Manuela Lo Sicco – Scarlett Johansson / Written by Roberto Saviano – Maurizio Braucci – Ugo Chiti – Gianni Di GregorioMatteo Garrone – Massimo Gaudioso – Roberto Saviano / Directed by Matteo Garrone
The ‘anti-Goodfellas’, Gomorra is a bleak, depressing look at the banality of the gangster and the gangster’s way of life.
Based on real-life reportage on the Neapolitan crime network, the Camorra, this film is not easy viewing. The criminal plots in this pic aren’t glamorous Airport Heists or Gambling Hotel takeover schemes, they’re focused on the disposal of toxic waste.
Remember the beginning of ‘Goodfellas’ when the hero Henry Hill says as far back as he remembered he wanted to be a gangster? He looked up to those wiseguys working at the cab stand; they were modern-day Robin Hoods who stole from the rich and gave, well, to themselves.
But in Gomorra, the kids in the projects, (and what projects! The dystopian future of ‘Clockwork Orange’ has now arrived), don’t admire the gangsters. They scorn them, mock them, still work for them though – because what else is there to do? They idolise ‘Scarface’ and fictional character Tony Montana, because there are no actual heroes in their life, (notice how they sit in a large Montaesque tub in an abandoned apartment – it’s surprising they don’t bundle cheap cigarettes together and pretend to be smoking Cuban cigars).
Ultimately Gomorra shows us the horror of a world without art. And without art, or the idea of art, there’s no beauty. In this film the only entertainment is strip clubs, tanning booths, crappy plastic slot machines and generic europop. With only two exceptions, (the one man in the film who realises he’s amoral, and another who is a coward), everyone dresses in cheap sports kit, flaky gold jewelery, and finds it difficult to shave well.
This is a world in which, as one soon to be dead character says “Money’s the first thing” and another repeatedly states “You’re either with us or against us”.
I know I’m not describing a pleasant cinema-going experience, but if you love movies, (and you probably do otherwise you wouldn’t be on the site), think seriously about seeing this pic. So often we’re told to watch ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Scarface’, (original and remake), it’s our duty to see a picture that shows what being a gangster is really all about.
Waste.
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‘Gomorra’ is at the Belcourt Theatre, Nashville from Friday March 13th to Thursday March 19th
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One caveat: Bring your A-game when you watch this movie – without a grounding in the history of the Camorra and contemporary Neapolitan society the film might be a bit confusing; imagine watching ‘The Wire’ never having visited the U.S. and being unfamiliar with portrayals of the crack trade.
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Recommendation: If you see Gomorra and find that it didn’t go far enough for you in either it’s filmmaking sytle or subject matter then I recommend Alan Clarke’s ‘Elephant’; ‘Gomorra’ is a couple of beers after work – ‘Elephant’ though, is the strong stuff.
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Gomorra is a great film–definitely refreshing to see in the wake of much more glamorous portrayals of organized crime. I do, however, think it's of note to mention that although Goodfellas begins with a very romanticized picture of the mob, it ends sharply and decidedly in the opposite direction. If there is any glorification of violence or crime it's only because that's the state of mind Henry was in at the time, but we all know how he ends up.
I agree with what you're saying Eric – I'd only add the the experience of watching Goodfellas is glamorous, it's an exciting, entertaining ride – whereas the experience of watching Gomorra is anything but! ;)
Yes, I definitely agree. It does sadden me though that many people will probably come out of Gomorra thinking it's a bad movie because it wasn't particularly entertaining. They forget that film is a legitimate, powerful, and universally accepted art form. People don't look at Jeroen Bosch's paintings of Hell and think they suck because they aren't entertaining. Yet, that attitude is taken towards film far too often.
Yeah, film can be many different things = it depends on context/what people want or are expecting:
Had a conversation with a guy the other day who saw 'Silent Light' at the Belcourt and absolutely hated it – he found it slow, boring and dull and hated the cinematography. I imagine that he wanted a different experience, maybe he wanted to relax and be told a story rather than having to do some work – if you approach a visit to 'Silent Light' they way you would an art gallery for instance then you'll have a dramatically different experience.
Same with Gomorra – it's not an entertainment.
[...] Our Review of ‘Gomorrah’ / ‘Gomorra’ [...]
I found much to like in G. The initiation scene with the young boys in the bullet-proof vests was unforgettable as was the beach scene with the automatic weapons. G also has a tremendous sound-scape – another great reason to check it in the theater instead of DVD. However, while I felt some empathy with the moonlighting tailor, Gomorrah has a terrible flaw. We never connect with or care about any of the characters. This may be partly do to the complexity of the interweaving plot lines, but I suspect it is because – in an effort to evoke the apathy and disconnection in the character's lives – the audience is ultimately left apathetic and disconnected from their stories. Some may defend this saying something like “that's the point”. However, it begs the question, “Why bother?”
I think you're spot on Joe re: The 'Initiation' and 'Beach' scenes = great cinema.
Re: identification with the characters – i was wondering about that while watching = one problem is that if you're not from Italy a lot of the picture is going to be opaque; there's an interesting interview with the director of the pic in this months' 'American Cinematographer' in which it's pointed out that people that don't speak Italian won't pick up on the various class/geographical issues that are apparent in the characters accents.
With that in mind, perhaps to 'natives' aren't so disconnected?
Good point. On a less serious note – but a related one – the first time I saw the film The Brotherhood of the Wolf, I was really excited – French Kung Fu Werewolves!?!?!?
However, I got a DVD from the library that only offered the dubbed version. It was terrible! I ranted for months about how overrated that movie was – all my pals loved it – until one observant chap realized it was the dubbing that was getting in the way. Needless to say, I saw the subtitled version and was wildly entertained. :) All of this to say that these kinds of issues with dubbing, translations/subtitles. and even dialects between regions in the same country can definitely affect the message of a film. Especially when addressing a foreign audience that has no context for understanding these subtleties. That said, I still think Gomorrah is worth seeing and worth seeing in the theater. Those gunshots are the loudest I've ever heard in a movie.
Sorry about the multiple posts earlier. I connected through Facebook and the posting was acting sketchy.
no problem re: multiple posts = will try to delete them! ;)
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I found there were insufficient subtitles. Long stretches of dialougue occured which were not translated and many of the titles were disjointed
i can understand the difficulty with the subtitles + as referenced in the post, if you're not familiar with the milieu it's going to be an opaque experience -
i can understand the difficulty with the subtitles + as referenced in the post, if you're not familiar with the milieu it's going to be an opaque experience -