Gomorrah
Directed by Matteo Garrone
Starring Nicolo Manta, Gianfelice Imparato
Rated R
Release date: February 13, 2009

Towards the end of Gomorrah, a ruthless look at the Camorra crime network in Naples, Italy, a man sees on a television set Scarlett Johansson waltzing down the red carpet flaunting her dress. May not be the typical scene you’d expect from a brutally honest mafia story based on the 2006 book by Roberto Saviano, now 29, that exploited the Camorra and how deep their tentacles stretch. But it’s the right scene.

Let’s praise director Matteo Garrone for injecting such an abnormal scene because it makes the movie work as a whole. It allows for Garrone’s audience to realize that entertainment, stardom, and freedom still roam free in luckier parts of the world. Parts of the world that encourages picnics, romances, and jobs that aren’t mafia related.

Gomorrah heavily, brutally, and unflinchingly buries its viewers inside Naples; a city populated by scum, drug dealers, and the occasional innocent bystander, all of whom literally see all hope diminish before their eyes. Very rarely does a film bury its audience in the same dismay, distanced so far away from any hope, than this one does. Once the gun waving poetic opening scenes occur, Gomorrah demands our attention, commanding us to fancy nothing else that isn’t relevant to mafia wars, drug dealing, young men reciting Tony Montana, toxic waste dumping, and fashion designing. Garrone unfolds five distinct stories tied to the Camorra against a grim and grisly Italy that’s void of cathedrals and coliseums. Amiable feelings and sentimentality — prepare to be surcharged with evil and austerity.