According to the Old Testament, the city of Gomorrah was such a vile and sinful city, God had to destroy it as well as another equally infamous city, Sodom, by the wrecks of fire and brimstone. Based on the best-selling non-fiction by the same title, Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah is a wordplay on Camorra, the name of a real-life Italian criminal organization, and a reference to its corruptive influence upon the city of Naples. Source writer Roberto Saviano is currently under witness protection because his book’s revealing content and international success has made him a target of gang retaliation. The cinematic version of Gomorrah is a chilling visualization of the web of cold-blooded dealings within Camorra’s elaborate system.
The five stories in Gomorrah serve as the intermeshing gears in the clockwork of the mafia machine. Under the influence of the Camorra, no one is left untouched— thirteen-year-old Toto (Salvatore Abruzzese) is tempted by the gang life and sees it as a step towards growing up to be a man; Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) delivers money to the families of jailed gang members but realizes his job is becoming increasingly dangerous; Stick-up boys Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) do not follow the rules in the gangster world and are testing the patience of the local boss; Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo) is a tailor for a designer-knockoff sweatshop but his secret deal with the Chinese is putting his life in danger; College graduate Roberto (Carmine Paternoster) reckons his job in a waste management company has a shady side when he finds out how the chemical waste is disposed. From the young to the old, from the drug deals to the business world, the grip of the Camorra is everywhere.
Twenty some years after its initial release, Brian De Palma’s Scarface is still the epitome of gangster glamour for wannabes, including the imbecilic Marco and Ciro, who spend their days quoting Tony Montana and firing weapons at empty space. In their heads, bullets and guts will lead them to the top of the game, but there is no room for such simpleminded fantasy in the real world. Whoever stands in the way of the system shall be crushed. It is a ruthless way of life that needs no explanation, as such is established in the opening scene— a sudden blast of gunshots pierces the bodies of an unwitting party, leaving an eerily silent scene with bloodied corpses scattered in a tanning salon. For the Camorra, murder is just a usual business practice.
Garrone’s movie takes viewers to the lower depths of the crime network without ever showing any high-level crime boss in the film. Even as high-ranked as Roberto’s boss Franco may seem, he is merely a seasoned businessman who acts as an operative for the organization. The film has no place for any Tony Montana or Michael Corleone. The grim truth is the boss does not need to be seen. The system of recruiting and money laundering is tuned to maximize business efficiently while violence runs amok in the city. Toto’s neighborhood gang bangers do not have a clue about who is against them and they have no problem with shooting anyone with the slightest suspicion. As for Don Ciro, he has little money and no answers for the families of the incarcerated members of the Camorra. His reaction to their inquiries is stoically submissive, but the worrisome man knows all too well that his purpose for the Camorra is like an expendable pawn in a game of chess.
It is only a matter of time before one is engulfed by the dog-eat-dog nature of gang life. Garrone’s imperturbable imagery, punctuated by sudden splashes of violence, institutes the film with a strong sense of mortality. It would be a huge underestimation to think that the Camorra’s influence is own within the hood. Seeing Pasquale’s dress being worn by a starlet on the red carpet and reading the film’s parting message revealing the real-life Camorra’s contract to rebuild part of the Twin Towers, one can only wonder how far the criminal organization can reach.
At times, it feels like there is a lack of time for five individual plotlines to be fully developed in 142 minutes. But like Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic and HBO’s television series The Wire, Gomorrah succeeds in illuminating the complex and elaborate system of the modern criminal world with a great deal of authenticity. Cinematographer Marco Onorato also incorporates some sophisticated long takes into the realistic Gomorrah, giving it the naturalistic look of a documentary without compromising the dramatic touch of the widescreen.
Gomorrah opens at the Angelika Film Houston on March 13.
No comments:
Post a Comment