1212. Gomorrah

Gomorrah
2008
Directed by Matteo Garrone

When I first started my 1001+ movie journey, I was a cad about town, and wasn't doing the responsible thing, like keeping track of what I had watched, or what I still had to watch. So when I finally sat down and gathered the data, I realized I had one missing movie, and I had no idea what it was. It turned out to be Gomorrah. Sorry Gomorrah. 

Gomorrah focuses on the Scampia feud, which was a feud between the Camorra gangs in Naples. The fight was between the Di Lauro clan, and a group of secessionists who tried to overthrow them in the drugs and prostitution racket. The movie opens with the murder of gangsters in a tanning salon, and then sections off to tell the story of five people affected by the violence of the gang war.

This film felt so episodic that I am not surprised it spawned a television spin off six years later. Obviously, they picked a fascinating subject and it took some balls for Robert Saviano to write the novel this film was based on.

Like most movies that choose to segment themselves in this way, it had its stronger sections, and it's not so strong sections. My favorite story was the Roberto storyline, with my least favorite being the one pictured above. My reasoning is probably fairly obvious.

It was interesting watching a movie about the Italian mob that didn't involve Martin Scorsese or Al Pacino. Sorry again Gomorrah for forgetting about you.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Saviano is under permanent police protection after getting death threats for exposing the activities of the Camorra.

Because the film is spoken in heavy Neapolitan dialogue, the film had to be subtitled for Italians.