Gomorrah

It's only in the closing moments of 'Gommorah' that the magnitude of what you've just seen really hits home. This is no glamourised gangster flick, it's an expose into one of the most brutal criminal organisations in the world. Just before the credits roll, director Matteo Garrone proffers some facts about the real-life Camorra organisation, one which is split up into numerous warring clans. Over the past thirty years they have been responsible for some 4000 deaths (more than any other single criminal or terrorist organisation), they earn their money through illegal activities within mainstream business sectors which is then invested into numerous more legal activities (stretching as far as an investment into the rebuilding of the World Trade Center) and they hold a monopoly over the illegal dumping of toxic waste which has poisoned farmlands and exponentially increased cancer rates in the region. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it goes a long way to helping the reality of the preceding two hours sink in.

If you've never heard of the Camorra before, I'd suggest that you're probably not the only one. The Naples/Caserta-based group are surprisingly widely unknown. Perhaps this is largely down to a fear of exposing the truth, the author (Roberto Saviano) of the book on which the film is based was forced to flee into police protection. The film barely appears to try to dramatise the non-fiction source material, in fact the piece has an almost candid atmosphere, like that of a documentary. The camera follows the various characters like a grim voyeur, never reveling in yet never shying away from the most vicious and violent of events.

We are invited into Gommorah's Neopolitan heartland via five individual and interwoven story strands, each encompassing and highlighting a different aspect of the Cammora's far-reaching illegal activities. Arguably the most affecting is the thread following Gianfelice Imparato's Don Ciro,a man who seemingly serenely goes about visiting the families of imprisoned Camorra members to pay them reparation money. He is a man trapped in a highly dangerous and undoubtedly unwanted position, a victim of the stranglehold that the Camorra has over so many people in the region. Trapped is a word that can be used to describe virtually everyone we meet throughout, it is impossible for them to escape the Camorra's clutches. It's a far cry from the gangster lifestyle we're used to seeing through the eyes of Brando, Pacino and Liotta, this is an existence that few wish to be (or survive to be) part of.

The other stories show slick businessman Franco (Toni Servillo) running the aforementioned toxic waste dumping business and Salvatore Cantalupo's tailor, Pasquale, who is caught up in the violence after offering his services to Chinese fashion rivals. It's quite clear that this is a group with its fingers in many pies, and though some of their fund-raising may be legal it is built upon a foundation of intimidation and manipulation. Gomorrah also casts an eye upon the lure of crime for the young and impressionable, scenes eerily reminiscent of African militia groups show the lengths these children are forced to go to when they become involved with the Camorra.

The most enjoyable moments - in a film for the most part which is to be admired rather than enjoyed - are during Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro's (Ciro Petrone) scenes. The two young upstarts aim to join the gangster lifestyle but operate outside of the Camorra but the (despicable yet unnervingly likable) pair inevitably find trouble. It seems that everybody involved does, there's rarely a moment free of threat in the carefully slow-paced proceedings. There is no crescendo, no tidy ending, for all this really is occurring and will keep occurring in a town where all the really matters is blood, money and power. This is the bleak but slowly resonating message that Garrone unflinchingly drives home.

Verdict: Agonisingly close to the 5-star mark, however, despite it being a fantastic piece of filmmaking it's far from an enjoyable experience.