Thankfully there's no on-screen sodomising going on here but if there was it would fit right into the action without being too out of place. The title of this depressing movie is a neat play on words and is suggested by its subject material - Camorra, the Mafia network that exercises control over much that happens in Naples and beyond. The association of the two bywords is appropriate, both Gomorrah and Camorra being understood as representing oppression and perversion of the most wicked and offensive kind.
Matteo Garrone bases his film on Roberto Saviano's book, and neither misses the mark. A world is presented that is devoid of grace and mercy, and there is little or no prospect of redemption or escape for the people caught in the slums of Naples. Criminality reigns, and anyone who dares challenge its rule is swiftly exited.
Nothing here of the romantic notion non-Italians have of Naples; no views of the picturesque bay with a smoking Vesuvius in the background, no trips over to Capri, no pizza, no mama's special tomato sauce with its secret recipe handed down over generations. This is the Naples of labyrinthine, concrete apartment blocks, stuffed full of heaving, struggling, oppressed humanity, with squalor at every turn.
The corruption and brutalisation of youngsters is sickening, as the bosses bring on another generation of hands that have no option but to give themselves to criminalisation. Life is cheap and the rewards can be as high as the punishments are low.
The opening execution scene takes the audience by surprise, creating a false sense of ease and security, pleasure even. Then four men are mercilessly blown away. The juxtaposition of the violent act with a leisure setting is shocking.
Despair is the order of the day. There is the hint of the possibility of another life, but it will be far away, and only for those with imagination, conscience and maybe a bit of money or other assistance from outside. Roberto is drawn in to a business that looks fine and legitimate on paper, but under the surface lurks a sinister, dangerous trade. He is repulsed and gives up the possibility of what could be very lucrative rewards. The last we see of him he is walking away from his boss, following an empty, deserted road. Does he wander into a new and pleasant life or do they catch up with the deserter? We don't get the answer. The possibility of something else is only vaguely suggested.
I caught a late night viewing of Gomorrah in a cinema in Belfast. Walking out into the deserted street near midnight was a fitting end to the film that helped to bring home the edge of danger and the sense of helplessness, and reminded me strongly that the story of Naples is different from the stories of other cities, including Belfast, only by degree.
