Garrone’s Gomorrah gets Italy’s vote for Oscar

I’ve often mentioned on this site how much I’ve been unimpressed by contemporary Italian films, but this year a pair of Cannes winners have restored my faith in this national cinema. Apparently, choosing the candidate for Italy‘s Foreign Language Oscar nomination wasn’t as much as a head-scratcher as I would have thought. 

Screen Daily reports that it was a hands down decision to rep the country — the picture was selected unanimously because Matteo Garrone’s Cannes Grand Prix winner is more accessible with its exploratory organized crime narrative over what was most likely the frontrunner in Paolo Sorrentino’s Cannes Jury Prize winner Il Divo. The “fiction/non-fiction” bio discusses the life activities of a political madman who is an unfamiliar subject matter to those who know nothing about Italy‘s political system. Gomorrah will receive an early 2009 release.