Director Matteo Garrone’s gritty, grinding drama, “Gomorrah,” about the modern-day mob in Naples, follows the rough trajectories of five vexing stories.
The film’s multiple strands might reflect a trend in multiple story lines. And it works to persuasively argue just how pervasive the corruption is in this community.
If this film were a stink (one of the story lines follows a toxic dumping scheme) it would get into your clothes, your hair, your mouth. It would — and should — make you gag.
Beautifully shot by Marco Onorato to look as unpretty as the crimes and mob punishments it depicts, “Gomorrah” (titled “Gomorra” in Italy) was a box-office triumph and that country’s nominee for the foreign-language-film Oscar.
The sense of dread and misery pervading it are more disorienting than the dark atmospherics of the current box-office king, “Watchmen,” not least because Garrone’s two-plus-hours-long ride weighs audiences down with the cement of reality.
It’s based on journalist Roberto Saviano’s nonfiction account of the Camorra crime syndicate that operates in Naples and Caserta. “The System” is reportedly responsible for the murders of more than 4,000 people in the past 30 years. The author’s book is pungent, rife with troubling insights about shadow economies cavorting with legitimate ones. It landed Saviano under police protection.
If you’re looking for a criminal enterprise that has the twisted family values but also the magnetic characters of “The Godfather,” look elsewhere. The midlevel bosses here aren’t living large. So many of them, like Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) are either aggravated or exhausted.
Much of the activity seems more tribal than organized. An exception comes by way of the elegant Franco’s plunge into the waste-management biz.
Sitting on crates in the sun, Toto and his childhood friend say goodbye as they enlist in rival factions. Toto is all of 13 when he chooses a side — and worse. A hazing ritual for boys in a cave serves as a nerve-wracking reminder that too many nations have some version of children soldiers.
In this system, knuckleheads Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) imagine they can act as free agents. They rob people, then steal a cache of arms, taking their violent cues from some American version of a mobster flick. Only they seem not to heed the lessons of Tony Montana’s end.
There are characters to root for.
Chubby-faced Roberto joins Franco in the waste-management trade. His high hopes of making a difference in his community are in danger of getting trashed.
Pasquale, played with convincing soul by Salvatore Cantalupo, is a tailor tired of being exploited for his gifts. So he begins a moonlight teaching job at a Chinese factory. He arrives and leaves the well-lit business in a car trunk.
Lawlessness has its version of rules, of course. But “Gomorrah is terrific at showing the underlying chaos. Perhaps this is why entering Chinese businessman Xian’s factory provides such an unexpected respite. After images of persistent lawbreaking, the factory floor with its rows of sewing machines, its audio-visual setup and alert Chinese seamstresses seems profoundly ordered. It is an oasis of production in a system that refutes authentic discipline.
Although the film arrives at the Mayan with a “Presented by Martin Scorsese” blessing, the violence in “Gomorrah” refuses to be lovingly choreo- graphed. These volatile instances aren’t arias. Demise comes in offhanded, ignominious ways: at a tanning salon, at a ramshackle farmhouse.
Throughout, Garrone makes death something real, believable, an inevitable surprise.
It is often guaranteed, yet startling just the same.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@ . Also on blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
“Gommorah”
Not rated but features mature themes. 2 hours, 15 minutes. Directed by Matteo Garrone; co-written by Garrone, Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Massimo Gaudioso and Robert Saviano from the book by Saviano; photography by Marco Onorato; starring Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Salvatore Abruzzese, Carmine Paternoster, Zhang Ronghua, Marco Macor and Ciro Petrone. In Italian with English subtitles. Opens today at the Mayan.
