Italian director Matteo Garrone's film is about the criminal underworld in Naples that is far more vicious than the old-world Mafia. It is terrifying, suspenseful, brutal and yet it also offers, in the second half, a fleeting but firm situation of redemption when a son stands up to his father. An art-house hit in several European countries, especially in Italy, it will be out in North America in a few weeks. It is to be presented by Martin Scorsese.
The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race, it is based on an international bestseller, the non-fiction work, Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples's Crime System. The book became so controversial and the pressure on the authorities to fight the new Mafia became so intense that writer Roberto Saviano, who worked on it for over five years, had to hide from the new Mafia for several years.
But the filmmakers who bravely forged ahead with the dramatized version of the book (which means the names of the crime bosses were changed) did not face any reported danger. The movie was freely exhibited not only across Italy but also in Naples, where it ran for more than three months in a handful of theaters. The film's title is not only a reference to the debauched biblical city but also a play on the word 'Camorra,' the name of the Mafia-type organisation that rules the huge underground economy of Naples and acts like an alternate government. At the end of the film, we learn that Camorra has investments across the globe, including in New York.
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