Dvd
Gomorrah
Based on a book so hard-hitting that it apparently forced author Robert Saviano into hiding, Gomorrah provides an inside look at Italy's modern-day mob families, specifically, the Napoli Mafia (The Camorra). Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2008.
Starring Salvatore Abruzzese, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Toni Servillo, Carmine Paternoster, Salvatore Cantalupo
Directed by Matteo Garrone ('First Love', 'The Embalmer')
Written by Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso (based on the book by Roberto Saviano)
Festivals & Awards Grand Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2008
2hr 11mins | Rated (R16) | violence, offensive language, drug use | Origin: Italy | Language: Italian with English subtitles | Official Site »
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Flicks review
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5
One of the major reasons I developed a movie-watching addiction was due to the existence of supercool mafia classics like Goodfellas and The Godfather. When the end credits ran on this film I felt pangs of guilt for worshipping them so. No film has ever torn to shreds the glamour of an entire genre like Gomorrah does.
Five separate stories are woven together, not to engineer an intricate plot line, but to create a mosaic of a modern day Napoli where the influence of organised crime extends into every corner of society. There are no heroes, just victims and a few lucky survivors. The bitterly violent themes and imagery are presented via quasi-documentry camera work that plays with light and shadow, while rotting housing estates and barren landscapes provide evocative backdrops. The actors are predominantly non-professional and their natural style of performance adds another layer of uncomfortable realism. It’s as bleak as it sounds but also cleverly borrows and inverts suspense and thriller tropes so that even as events shock you, they still keep you wondering what’s coming next.
The message takes precedence over the story - an approach not for everyone. But the scathing critique of the mafia will be forever seared into your memory. You’ll never watch a gangster movie the same way again.
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The people's reviews
3 reviews
Press Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Gomorrah looks grimy and sullen, and has no heroes, only victims. That is its power.
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Dominion Post (Graeme Tuckett)
Gomorrah is a very strong, occasionally entrancing film. I would have liked to have seen more cross-over between the stories, and the film would have benefited from a tighter edit, but it deserves its accolades, and your attention.
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Empire (UK)
4
A sombre, slow, but well-paced study of organised crime in urban Naples that leaves a very grim taste in the mouth.
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Hollywood Reporter
Powerful, stripped to its very essence and featuring a spectacular cast (of mostly non-professionals), Matteo Garrone's sixth feature film Gomorra goes beyond Tarrantino's gratuitous violence and even Scorsese's Hollywood sensibility in depicting the everyday reality of organized crime's foot soldiers.
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Los Angeles Times
The fingerprints of the Camorra are everywhere, this film wants us to know, and its grip is lethal.
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New York Times
Part of what's bracing about Gomorrah, and makes it feel different from so many American crime movies, is both its deadly serious take on violence and its global understanding of how far and wide the mob's tentacles reach, from high fashion to the very dirt.
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NZ Herald (Peter Calder)
5
Grim, violent, mesmerising masterpiece.
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Total Film (UK)
5
After Gomorrah fades to black, shiver-inducing stats flash on to the screen like nails being hammered into a coffin.
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TV3 (Kate Rodger)
4
It's cruel, it’s violent, and it’s cripplingly real, so this film won't be for everyone. But even with my well-documented girlie stomach for violence, I still found this an incredibly rewarding watch.
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Variety (USA)
Utilizing a mesmerizing documentary style that studiously avoids glamorizing the horrors, Garrone cherrypicks episodes from Saviano's muckraking tract, building to a chillingly matter-of-fact crescendo of violence...
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