Big Picture Big Sound

Violent and Boring is Tough to Accomplish

Roberto Saviano is an Italian journalist who wrote a book that exposed the Camorra, a crime organization that rules Naples as an almost shadow government. The book was published in Italy in 2006. It caused such an uproar that Saviano has been under round-the-clock security ever since. "Gomorra" focuses on the relentless brutality forced upon certain areas of Naples by the Camorra and presents it in almost documentary fashion that at times helps tell the story and at other times takes away from its impact. Saviano has made a very clear decision to not allow us to feel anything positive or negative for any of its characters, not even the innocent victims.

The tone is set in the opening scene, when some gentlemen in a tanning salon are executed gangland-style. The scene is never addressed again in the film. It is just to illustrate the mindless violence that dominates the landscape of the world of the Camorra. Perhaps it is to be seen as the spark that brings all of the senseless killings that follow but more likely it is just a snapshot of a moment in a chain of barely related events that accomplish little.

Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) is a man of about sixty who distributes weekly cash payments to the relatives of sympathizers who are currently in prison for their services for the group. He is neither a big earner nor a man of violence. He is just the elderly delivery boy trying to stay alive in his crazy world. We watch his sad face wander among the ghetto apartments, making his rounds. He is clearly not happy with his function but just as clearly he has no other choice. He is a prisoner even though he is not behind bars. The same can be said for every character in "Gomorra". A few of the "top prisoners" have some cash but they too are trapped, whether they realize it or not.

Then we have the 13-year-old Toto (Salvatore Abruzzese), who aspires to one day take his place among the gangsters. It's either that or remain outside of the organization and be a target for their abuses. His choice to join isn't necessarily the wrong one for him to make. Ciro (Ciro Petrone) and Marco (Marco Macor) are two teenagers who are on the cusp of joining the organization but they are young and excessively stupid in their actions so it's not difficult to predict their immediate future.

The most powerful moments of "Gomorra" are the written words that we see right before the credits. It is an accounting of the facts of the Camorra and the damage they have brought to their people. Most interesting was the note that they are funneling their illegal cash into legitimate businesses worldwide, including being involved in the funding of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center towers. Saviano has served up an important story but it just never grabs the viewer. Instead its effect is to numb us, much like the people who live with the Camorra have become anesthetized.

Also check out Tom Fugalli's take on "Gomorra".