Gomorrah

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Watching Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah is at once a thrilling and harrowing experience. Based on Roberto Saviano’s bestselling exposé – a book so confronting that Saviano must now live in protective custody – Gomorrah reveals the devastating realities of a society, economy and environment governed by the mafia (the Camorra).

Garrone and co-writer Maurizio Braucci have pared back Saviano’s book, focusing on five stories that narratively and thematically show the vast scope of the Camorra’s influence. The film weaves together the initiation of an impressionable boy (Salvatore Abruzzese), with the induction of a new recruit into the waste ‘management’ business (Carmine Paternoster), an overworked, under appreciated couture tailor (Salvatore Cantalupo), the over the hill, powerless money runner (Gianfelice Imparato) and two teenage upstarts with Scarface stars in their eyes (Marco Macor and Ciro Petrone). Their stories are as fascinating as they are heart wrenching, hammered home by strong performances and an eerily crisp use of sound.

Garrone also brings his painterly aesthetic to the subject matter. Bright blues, greens and reds saturate certain scenes, while operating his own camera Garonne often closes in on faces with a curious intensity. The same significance is given to the backs of the lucky survivors, who – like the biblical tale of a godforsaken city – Garrone captures walking away from their lives, unable to turn back.

Despite being controversially overlooked for Academy Award nomination, Gomorrah has enjoyed well-deserved critical success. Now on DVD, the film can take on a wider audience, fraying nerves with the tension and simmering violence that too often rakes the surface of Camorra-run Naples.

4 stars

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Published in The Brag.
Gomorrah is now available to rent or purchase on DVD.