Gomorra (Matteo Garrone, 2008): Italy

Reviewed by Jason Sanders.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Going into this film, this was my second time viewing the realistic take on the Italian mafia.  After viewing the film for the first time, I was so used to the Hollywood version of the mafia that I walked out disappointed.  Once I was home, however, I thought more and more about the film, and realized, wow, that was dead on realistic!

The main focus is on five different stories that show different aspects of the true mafia life in Italy.  It demonstrates the choice of being in the mafia, the idea of the mafia, the aftermath, the business, and the power of the mafia.  The choice of being in the mafia is shown by a young boy who hides a gun from the police after an event at his apartment complex; he is asked by the young men who the police were after to hang out with them.  In that same complex, there is an old Don who is retired and pays the women and families who live there due to his own mafia being broken up, and thrown in jail.  Then there is a young graduate student who is affliated with a business man who is in the toxic waste dumps.  Another is about two teens who have seen the movie “Scarface” and are obsessed with the idea of what a mafia is, which leads them into trouble.  The movie also goes into depth with how far the mafia controls Italy, even in the clothing industry.

This film was groundbreaking in the sense that it is a mafia movie that shows a side that has never been potrayed in a film before.  I highly recommend seeing this movie, but I would suggest seeing it two times.  One time seeing this film does make you think, but there is too much detail in the movie to be captured in one screening.  Going into this film however, you should know this was a book first; it is non-fiction and the author is now under protection due to the Commora mafia posing threats against him.