Gomorrah

Italy's official entry to the 2008 Oscar race is a densely layered, sprawling look at the criminal underbelly southern Italy. Despite being completely scripted, Gomorrah retains a documentry feel throughout and almost plays out like an secret expose on the criminal masses.

The criminal organisation in question is that of Italy's oldest: the Camorra. Originating in the region of Campania and the city of Naples, it finances itself through drug trafficking, extortion, protection and racketeering. It is also reportedly responsible for at least 4000 deaths since the 70s.

Portraying any aspect of this on screen is an unenviable task but Matteo Garone has taken it on, both as director and one of several screenwriters. The Camorra has some estimated 7000 members, has existed in one form or another for 500 years and is organised into a reported 150 clans. Tackling such a huge entity borders on the imposible and whatever Garone had done would only ever have scratched the surface.

Gomorrah takes 5 tenuously connected characters and tells us the story of each, interweaving each others plot with that of the other 4 only in the loosest of ways. Any audience member expecting a neat resolution where the seemingly unconnected storylines suddenly fall into place will be disappointed. No attempt is made to tie anything together. Garone and his team of screenwriters have had the confidence to let the quality of each story line stand alone. And for the most part it is a wise decision. Each character is well written and well performed. The common theme in each thread is the exploration of how the Camorra affect the entire comunity - from those within the set-up and those who have ambitions to be in it, to those who want nothing to do with it.

Helping the documentry feel is the casting of non-professionals, 3 of whom have been arrested for real life crimes since the film was released. The book on which this is based is a non-fiction work by Roberto Saviano so this is as close to a documentary as you can get without actually watching one. And for the most part it works very well.

If I had to be critical I would say that the lack of focus probably went too far at times. Comparable films like Traffic and City of God have rather more definite links between the plot threads and you get rather more invested in individual characters than you can in this film, since everything feels so detached. It is very hard to be moved by anything that happens when you don't really feel you know the characters very well. Its deliberate detachment, delineated structure and roving focus means emotions are rather more muted than they perhaps should be - even scenes that should be shocking or saddening fail to elicit the emotions they perhaps should.

Nevertheless, it's an extremely accomplished film and one that is particularly well directed. Several scenes stand out and give audiences a taste of a director who has a flair for visuals. One overhead tracking shot that's followed by a static shot of a member of the Camorra walking off into the distance is particularly memorable.

Gomorrah is certainly something I'll be revisiting - I suspect it might play a little better second time around. Whilst it wont end up threatening for awards with me at the end of the year, don't be surprised if I'm in a minority. I think critics and awards givers will not be shy at all in rewarding this ambitious, and for the most part, highly successful attempt at filming the near-impossible.

B