Crime, corruption, greed and plain stupidity run above ground, in secret and amuck in writer-director Matteo Garrone’s incendiary, visually gripping book to film adaptation. Based on author-in-hiding Roberto Saviano’s illustrative non-fiction bestseller, Garrone appears bypasses the crunching of numbers and the dissemination of information in favor of, an aerial, back-alley view of the many sectors of the Neapolitan organized crime network and the accompanying footprint it leaves in its neighbors. With stout photography and a narrative strategy that doesn’t fleece from the original source, but instead, allows audiences to look through many viewfinders. Gomorra is the best day in the life portrait of the mafia since Goodfellas, and without commentary, Garrone manages to place the viewer exactly where they ought to be – in the middle of the crosshairs where many folks learn to duck or avoid becoming sitting ducks.
If you’ve ever wondered how the people of Naples solve their labor disputes, their lack of space or wonder how its future generations become a statistic, then this tell all account will point the curious into the right direction. Co-scripted by Garrone, the book’s author, Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio and Massimio Gaudioso, the authoritative representation of Sicily’s cousin to the north is dispelled in five equally engaging narratives. Unlike Richard Linklater’s structured narrative — a mapped out attempt to cover all bases of the fast food chain, Garrone provides a wealth of details into the Camorra family control with 72 hour-ish daytrips that emphasis visual descriptions over specifically-designed dialogue. The contempo look into the many channels of an old import and export trade business that is larger take than some third world country’s Gross Domestic Products, is realistic without being sensationalist. The film’s strong suit is the flux of changes, relocating the storyline and backdrops and touching upon business arrangements of all colors – from garment industry and waste removal to backyard-like conflicts.
What ultimately adds wattage to each sequence is Garrone’s organizational structure to the multiple narratives. Almost clumsily overlapping onto one another, the lasting afterthought and basic aim of the message is this sense of the disregard for life, featured prominently when least expected. One might think that multiplex buildings with clothes being hung out to dry and children in play mode would be safe zones not war zones, but the low stakes and high stakes criminals, delivery boys, the banker looking types belong to a system in collapse – beautifully utilizing crumbled buildings to bring that point home. Packed with many memorable scenes that explore the clandestine operations to cold-blooded murders in broad daylight, Gomorra is among a pair of Italian film titles presented at the Cannes film festival (the other being Il Divo), that dare to go into risky terrain.
Reviewed at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival (Section: Main Competition)
May 18th 2008.
135 Minutes
