I have a bad habit of always writing down books I want to read and movies I want to see and then never following through. Trust me, I have notebooks full of scribbles that say "read" or "see", followed by titles. Well Gomorrah was one of those movies, that is until last night when I had the chance to see it at the CIFF. I had first read a remarkable review of the film in Newsweek, and am now happy I have the chance to write my own.
I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to see Gomorrah, due to the fact that there was only one showing of the film. I made sure to arrive 20 minutes early and the line was STILL long. Great thing to see. *Side note-I am VERY defensive of Cleveland and to all of the people who say there is NOTHING to do here or that we are not cultured (Yes, you Charles Barkley), you have NO idea what you miss in your ignorance.*
But I digress. The theater was packed and even representatives from the Italian Consulate were present. It IS the Cleveland INTERNATIONAL Film Festival after all.
Gomorrah is based on the best selling novel by Roberto Saviano. I will be picking up a copy to read now that I have seen the film. It delves deep into the world of the Camorra, the major Italian crime family, that operates out of Naples. The five story lines that were all woven throughout, showed the massive impact the Camorra holds over the region. No one was left untouched. The wealthy, the poor, the old and the young. I was particularly stricken by the fatal outcome of the two unruly boys who didn't want to work for anyone other than themselves. Without getting into gory detail, that did not end happily. There is one scene where the pair acts out scenes from Scarface, you cannot help but chuckle, yet you know that the film is going to show you the harrowing, actual life of organized crime, not the glitzy Hollywood version. I was also disturbed by the fact that young, young boys are recruited, going from being best friends, delivering groceries, to being enemies who witness and even organize shootings. You see people living in squalor while at the same time you can hear the thousands of Euros being counted by young men wearing Nikes. The parallels were very nicely reflected. It was amazing to see that a lot of this crime happens in broad daylight, in front of a countless number of witnesses.
In the film guide, it states that the author of Gomorrah has been living under police protection since 2006. After seeing this film, I am sure the Camorra were not exactly pleased with the portrayal and the publicity.
All in all, the film was VERY nicely done, and enjoyable.
More to come from me tomorrow. Hope to see you at the festival!
Lauren
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