The DVD cover says it all. An ominous young man [a boy, really…Sweat Pea in the film] with a gun. He is blown up to gigantic proportions. He trods upon the city of Naples menacing everything in sight.
This is the scariest of worlds for most of us. One in which those who “run the place” are basically thugs making up the rules as they go along. And only up to a point is “the law” able to intervene. That is, the parts not already bought and paid for by the mobsters.
The only good thing is that most of the violence is internal. Different factions [clans] vying for power or control over one or another “enterprise”. But if they bump into you and you are not in one of the clans it is almost always best to reconfigure your own plans to be more in line with their plans.
And then there are all the ethnic factions.
And the “initiation”. Let’s just say it leaves a mark.
There is absolutely no attempt to glamourize or to romanticism the amoral thuggery that goes on here. There is not even really a code to abide by. And no matter how much you steel yourself for the violence, time after time it just jumps right off the screen at you. It’s, uh, jolting.
And, of course, this is a world populated almost entirely by men.
trailer:
youtu.be/hky53gXyjX0
IMDb
[b]Gomorra intertwines five stories of individuals whose lives are touched by the Camorra. One story revolves around Don Ciro, an aging money runner who comes between two feuding clan factions. Another storyline focuses on Totò, a 13-year old delivery boy who is accepted into the Camorra. The story of Roberto revolves around his coming to grips with the Camorra’s toxic waste management. In the fourth story, fashion designer Pasquale crosses the Camorra. In another storyline, two knucklehead gangster wannabees, Marco and Ciro, also come up against the Camorra.
Roberto Saviano got death threats from the Camorra for exposing their activities in the novel and movie, and is now permanently under police protection.
Director Matteo Garrone lived for two months in the infamous Neapolitan quarter Scampia before making the movie.
Gomorra is a play on words, refering to both the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Camorra, a high-crime, mafia-type organization that works out of the city of Naples, Italy.[/b]
The Camorra at wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camorra
GOMORRAH [Gomorra] 2008
Directed by Matteo Garrone
[b]Sweet Pea [to Marcos]: You really looked like Scarface. You were good.
…
Giovanni [to Sweet Pea and Marcos]: I can’t be looking bad because of two snot-nosed kids. Next time I hear anything about you I’ll blow your heads off. If and when I decide you two are any good then you come work for me.
…
Marcos [stealing a cache of hidden weapons]: That bearded bum. Let him try to blow my head off now.
…
Pasquale [to Maria]: Where was I? China? They were all bowing to me. “Master”. They called me “master”.
…
Woman: Ciro, help me understand. I talked with my son this morning. He said, “Mom. pack my bag, I leaving. I’m joining the secessionists.”
Ciro: What did you say?
Woman: His mind is made up. He said, “We’ve got the strength and the numbers. We’ll win the war. The others are losers.”
Ciro: What war? A handful of idiots making war on us. You have to stop him. We’re on the right side.
Woman: Have you seen what is happening? There are killings everyday.
…
Toto: When will we see each other again?
Simon: When you change sides.
Toto: Want to stay loyal, go ahead. You go your way and I go mine. But we can still have a pizza together with friends.
Simon: I’m telling you again: Friends turn into enemies.
Toto: We’ve known each other a long time. Why go with them?
Simon: Once we were brothers. Now we are enemies. If you don’t change sides, we might kill you. Or you might kill us. Because we’re at war. People are dying everyday.
Toto: You could have stayed with us.
Simon: What for? I’m better off on the other side.
[They kiss goodbye][/b]
These kids are about 12 years old. Both already initiated.
[b]Giovanni: Zio Vittorio, they can’t be acting like big shots on my turf. I’ve warned them more than once. I can’t treat them like kids anymore. They have to die. That’s all.
…
Giovanni: Toto, are you with us or against us?
Toto: I’ll see what I can do.
Giovanni: No “I’ll see.” You’re either with us or against us. One or the other. And if you are against us you’re not leavin’ here. We can’t trust you.[/b]
Maria [his friend] is dead.
[b]Ciro: You’ve known me for years. You know everything I’ve done. I’ve brought people their money, including your family. I did it because I was ordered to. War isn’t for me.
Mobster: But you’re in the middle of it, you know that.
Ciro: Yes.
Mobster: Well then?
Ciro: You tell me.
Mobster: Tell you what? Why’d you come here? To talk about what?
Ciro: I want to save myself.
Mobster: You’ll have to buy your life. I won’t just give it to you.
…
Ciro: What I did for them, I’ll do for you.
Mobster: No, we don’t need money-carriers. We have to score, kill people, and we need money. You’ve wasting your time. You’re more dead than alive.
Ciro: We were all brothers before.
Mobster: I don’t want to hear it! That was before! Then your friends started fucking around. Our relatives were good people and then BOOM! BOOM! They killed them. So don’t come asking to join our side. We have to score, kill, and we need money. Otherwise you die, because you’re in this war too. You bring the money and I kill the people.
Ciro [trapped]: I understand.
…
Father: All these people have been saved by you and me.
Roberto: I’ve seen how you help them. You save a worker in Mestre and kill a family in Mondragone.
Father: That’s how it works. I didn’t make the rules. We solve problems created by others. I didn’t create chromium and asbestos. I didn’t dig up the mountains. That’s how it works.
Roberto: That’s how it works? Well, I won’t work that way.
[he turns and walks down the road]
Father: Go make pizzas then. You’re different.
…
Titlecard: In Europe the Camorra has killed more people than any other criminal organization. 4,000 deaths in the last 30 years. One every three days. Scampia is the largest open-air drug market in the world. Daily sales per clan run about 500,000 euros. If clan managed toxic waste were piled up, it would reach 47,900 feet. Mount Everest is only 29,000 feet high. Cancer rates have increased 20% in the poisoned areas. Profits from illegal activities are reinvested in legal activities worldwide. The Camorra has invested in the reconstructed of the Twin Towers.[/b]
Gasp!