Movie Description
Matteo Garrone's GOMORRAH is a dense, sprawling exposé of the corruption plaguing the communities of Naples and Caserta in modern-day Italy. The all-powerful Camorra syndicate influences the lives of even the most innocent citizens. In a manner similar to THE WIRE, Garrone tells his story from many different angles, resulting in a complicated narrative that often feels novelistic. In many cases, the revolving stories never overlap or intersect. While that may be jarring to those viewers who are used to having their strings tied neatly for them by a film's conclusion, Garrone's decision results in an experience that feels much more honest and true. We witness the syndicate's impact from the top down and from the inside out, following a cavalcade of characters who are all trying in their own ways to escape the deadly world in which they live.
Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, Garrone's crime epic is a powerful indictment of the corruption that is running rampant in Italy. His decision to present such a wide spectrum of characters enables him to show just how deeply everyone is impacted by this terrifying, unchecked display of criminal power. Cinematically, he employs a dizzying array of styles in order to further establish the frighteningly ungoverned atmosphere that pervades this community. GOMORRAH succeeds as both visceral entertainment and thoughtful social commentary.
| Credits | | Producer: | Domenico Procacci | | Cast: | Carmine Paternoster, Ciro Petrone, Maria Nazionale |
Editorial Reviews
5 stars out of 5 -- "It's a deglamourised shot of wake-up juice that strips a brutal reality bare....Accept that every mobster movie you've ever seen is rose-tinted nonsense. Now take a dip in this icy plunge-pool of a picture."
Total Film - Samuel Wigley (11/01/2008)
"[A] masterpiece of the genre....Garrone opts here for a strongly realistic and severe cinematography....Another sign of the film's sophistication is its austere soundtrack."
Sight and Sound - Guido Bonsaver (11/01/2008)
4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t has an under-the-skin quality that makes for an outstanding drama. It's a film that paints a full, ugly portrait of the Camorra corruptors and their corruption..."
Empire - Damon Wise (11/01/2008)
"SCARFACE looms large in GOMORRAH, an unflinching corrective to the mafia film."
Film Comment - Film Comment Staff (01/01/2009)
Included in Entertainment Weekly's 2008 Films Of The Year -- "[Y]ou've never seen anything like GOMORRA....Garone shoots in a fast, off-the-cuff nonfiction style..."
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (12/26/2008)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "It's brilliant filmmaking, a wake-up call that means to shake you, and does."
Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (02/05/2009)
"[A] corrosive and ferociously unsentimental fictional look at Italian organized crime....The sense that you are visiting an alien world is critical to the film's forceful grip, which immediately takes hold of you..."
New York Times - Manohla Dargis (02/13/2009)
"[T]he dramatic structure is complex, the details are instructive, and the sense of tragedy is momentous."
Wall Street Journal (02/13/2009)
"Garrone was a painter before becoming a filmmaker; the training reveals itself through hauntingly stark images in which characters seem to get swallowed by an unforgiving environment."
Washington Post - Jan Stuart (02/27/2009)
"The film is a curative for the romanticism of THE GODFATHER and SCARFACE....GOMORRAH looks grimy and sullen, and has no heroes, only victims....That is its power."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (02/25/2009)
"[A] gripping, clear-eyed drama....Don't look for resolution, romanticism, or comic relief....Instead, there's the power of damning truth." -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (02/27/2009)
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