Wayward Muse:

The cinema vérité, near-documentary style of this movie is what makes it so moving and terrifying. The Naples we are shown is a third-world pit, which feels somewhat indistinguishable from footage I have viewed from various locales in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. While I found this tale of life in the Camorra, the Neapolitan mob, very interesting, what really struck me was not it's uniqueness so much as how ubiquitous the conditions that created it are around the globe; it made me wonder about how many Comorras, Mafias, and Russian mobs are thriving throughout the world, more resistant even than global corporations to any kind of regulation. In Naples, one of the Comorra-run industries is waste disposal, reminiscent of the historic involvement of the Mafia in waste disposal in the US. We see the conditions in which deadly waste from around the world is disposed of as cheaply as possible in abandoned quarries around Naples, maximizing profitability. We are shown at the film's end the off-the-charts statistics of cancer, birth-defects, and other environmental-related diseases of the Neopolitan population. One of the real pluses of this film is the total lack of glamorizing of the gangster life. Ugly, dehumanizing, predatory, paranoid, traumatizing; it's shown as a sad and pedestrian reduction of life to a game of survival where everyone, even family, is a potentially deadly enemy. The intertwining stories of ?a delivery boy, a tailor, a businessman and two cocky teenagers? are utterly believable?the acting is excellent, adding to the documentary feel, and adding a human face to the story, which evokes empathy rather than simply horror and disgust. The teenagers, in particular, add some very dark humor to the mix, as they ?play macho? with their stolen cache of high-end automatic weapons. Highly recommended, but be sure you're in the mood for some depressing reality. 02/22/09

DfwForeignBuff:

Gomorrah (2008) 'Gomorra' is an unglamorous depiction of the Camorra, the oldest crime organization in Italy, centered in Naples. It's realism was highlighted by the arrest of one of the main actors (Giovanni Venosa) when inmates in a Naples prison recognized him as a real mobster. I guess that art does imitate life. The film moves between characters from subject to subject in an unsentimental manner, which makes the multi-threaded plot seem meandering at times. However, the camera doesn't maintain its distance throughout. Director Matteo Garrone does bring you into the lives of a few key characters, who are all faced with life-changing dilemmas. The style is reminiscent of 'Traffic' or 'Babel' without a contrived "a-ha" epiphany at the end. Just don't see it expecting 'Godfather Part II' or 'Goodfellas'. Excellent though gritty movie. Much violence killing and kids involved with drug cultures. If life in Naples is like this what are the mobsters (drug culture) doing to the rest of Europe. This movie is so real I thought it was a documentary (it is not). It is based on the book by Roberto Saviano. The film, following the book it is based on, portrays events identifiably similar to actual historical ones; In the film's credits, the filmmakers thank the regions of Scampia and Torre del Greco, as well as the region and police force (carabinieri) of nearby Boscoreale ? these three suburban areas around the Bay of Naples provided the urban landscape for the filming of this story. four stars.

T-Bone:

At times a very interesting film. But it portrays life in Naples, Italy as way too depressing. Everyone who lives there is affected by the Mafia. Everyone's life sucks - from the housewife to the Mafia Don. And uber-capitalism sucks as well. The way of the gun shall destroy Italian society. What was fascinating about this film is that is was from a book based on actual events and I believe the author had to be placed on protective custody.

Cato the Younger:

Now we know what foreigners think about America when they watch OUR gangster movies! I could hardly avoid thinking more or less continually "what horrifying squalor!" and "why don't they move to the leafy suburbs and get out of that murderous hell-hole?" And then you realize Naples isn't America, and for that matter it isn't even Italy, but it is certainly an important and apparently ineradicable part of Italy because, as this film shows, the mafia is a deeply-rooted and all-pervasive part of the culture. The key point I got from this film is that living an honest life in Naples essentially means poverty as a result of labor exploitation and corruption (not to mention the taxation)--no wonder Italy's birth-rate is among the world's lowest! Another key point: the group of people who were willing and eager to work hard were Chinese immigrants; in contrast, a very significant percentage of the able-bodied male population in this film was unemployed or employed in shady or violent transactions that ultimately amount to a vast transfer of wealth from the productive to the unproductive (thereby further killing incentive to work). This film is a drama with a documentary style, one of those that follows several overlapping story arcs and requires some effort to keep track of who is who and how they interrelate. In the end: a lot of dead bodies, everyone contaminated, the social contract turned into a kind of toxic waste dump. Bleak and depressing film, but very educational.

Supercords:

A very disjointed Italian film that will leave you trying to piece together a plot for half the movie. I expected better based on the positive word of mouth this movie received. Sorry, but I?m letting this bandwagon roll on by. Rating: C-

khl 491889:

Thoroughly fascinating and well crafted. This is the Italy completely at odds with the romanticized fantasy Americans love. This is an Italy laid to waste by corruption of every sort- it's in the earth, in the blood, in the soul. No one is exempt. If that's too bleak, this film is not fiction. And least we get too smug- we here are not immune.

lastliberal:

Nominated for a BAFTA, a César, a Golden Globe, and winning a bucketful of David di Donatello and European Film awards, you know that this is going to sit on most Best Films of 2008 lists. This is a film about the $250 BILLION a year Italian crime syndicate that doesn't get the press of the Mafia. This movie, based on actual fact, is not about the men at the top who wear the expensive suits, but the workers who go about killing and running the businesses. The movie is gritty an real like a documentary. The young boys run around quoting Scarface, not The Godfather. Life can be short, as the film shows. A fascinating tale.

Lost_In_NJ:

I had a very hard time following this one. As far as I could tell, there was no story line, just scene after scene of mafia thugs doing mafia things. And the scenes werent even that interesting. Characters were hard to follow, I wasnt sure where characters fit in to the grand scheme of things - but maybe thats because I couldnt detect what the plot was either. Id give it less than 1 star if I could.

MikeyStep:

ahhh I give the movie a 3 for effort but overall I didnt really like it. I cant really compare this movie to anything???

cweber50613:

Stick to Goodfellas. Or any movie where something happens. Maybe it got better toward the end. I wouldn't know. I couldn't stay awake long enough to find out, and this movie is not worth a second shot.