Most Mob movies glamorize Mob life.
Not “Gomorra.”
This Italian film, set in present-day Naples, is a dense, multi-layered examination of the organized crime syndicate the Camorra, which finances itself through a variety of unwholesome activities, such as drug trafficking and extortion. Whereas films such as “Goodfellas” and Brian De Palma’s “Scarface” romanticized Mob life, “Gomorra” is an unblinking, documentary-like dissection of a society incapacitated by crime — more “The Wire” than “The Godfather.” Based on a non-fiction book by Italian journalist Roberto Saviano (who now travels with a police escort), “Gomorra” eschews the mythologizing and cliches typical of the Mob-film genre. In this film, there are no heroes, or even anti-heroes.
Initially, “Gomorra” is confusing, and it took me a little while to figure out who the characters were, and their relationships to each other. The opening scenes are violent and chaotic, as thuggish men are gunned down in a tanning salon. We never even find out who those men were, or why they were killed, and eventually, we realize that their identities never really mattered, because this film isn’t really telling a story. Instead, “Gomorra” is a series of loosely-connected scenes and plot threads that, taken together, present a panoramic glimpse of a particular way of life. We follow a handful of characters as they navigate this dangerous underworld: a 13-year-old boy seeking employment by the Camorra, a Camorra-funded tailor who secretly goes to work for a Chinese garment shop, two knuckleheaded teenagers who run afoul of the Camorra and don’t realize how much trouble they’re in.
“Gomorra” is engrossing, but it isn’t enjoyable — New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane probably put it best when he said, “A hell of a film, if you can take the hell.” This movie makes crime look like gritty, endless, boring work. During the film’s final scenes, when SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HAPPENS! the knuckleheaded teenagers are gunned down and killed, I couldn’t help but think about how ruthlessly matter-of-fact and senseless it all was, how the deaths seemed to pile on top of each other and blend together, until they disappeared. Most mob movies end on a note of almost-operatic violence and tragedy — think Tony Montana plunging off the balcony in a hail of bullets, or Fredo’s quieter-but-still-brutal death at the end of “The Godfather Part II” — but “Gomorra’s” final scenes are deliberately mundane, the workmanlike murders of a pair of nobodies. I was reminded of the T.S. Eliot poem “The Hollow Men:” “This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but with a whimper.”
MORE MOB MOVIES
1.
The Godfather series Essential.
2.
Goodfellas Also essential.
3.
Donnie Brasco Underrated, but terrific. And it stars Johnny Depp.
4.
Miller’s Crossing The Coen Brothers do the Mob. Not my favorite, but my friend Dave loves it, so I’m including it for him.
5.
Mafioso I wrote about this film a week ago. Click
here to learn more.
6.
A History of Violence/Eastern Promises Two mob films with kinky David Cronenberg touches. This is your chance to see a nude Viggo Mortensen get into a fist-and-knife fight at a bathhouse.
7.
Scarface Al Pacino as Tony Montana. You’ll either love it or hate it.
8.
Scarface This 1932 film that inspired the film above. Gangster Paul Muni takes control of the Chicago bootlegging racket.
9.
White Heat With James Cagney as the psychotic gangster who loves his mother. Must-see.
10.
Branded to Kill For weirdness’ sake, I’m including this 1967 Japanese yakuza film about an assassin who becomes a mob target when he botches his hit.
11.
Get Carter The original, with Michael Caine. Do not, under any circumstances, rent the remake with Sylvester Stallone.
12.
Prizzi’s Honor A hilarious black comedy, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner, about what happens when rival gangsters fall in love.
13.
Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder does a gangster comedy. Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe.
14.
On the Waterfront With Brando, of course.
15.
The Road to Perdition Also underrated. A stylish and moody drama starring Tom Hanks as a hitman traveling with son, and Jude Law, as his evil rival.
Have a comment? A favorite Mob movie? Add your thoughts below, or e-mail me at
sfoss@dailygazette.net.
