Gomorrah

Gomorrah: Oscar contender?

Since Benigni won the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1998 the Italian submission has received just one nomination.

I have a feeling that drought may well end should Italy choose to submit Gomorrah for the 81st Academy Awards. This is a film that ticks all of the boxes as far as I am concerned, it is honest, moving, gritty, powerful and engaging.Whether or not Garrone can enjoy the success of his national and stylistic ancestors at the Oscars, he can sit proudly in the knowledge that he has created a film that is intelligent, passionate and, above all, accessible.

A gangster film of the most abstract quality, Gomorrah is all about the totality with which the Camorras corruption has enveloped the Italian province of Naples and Caserta.

Opening with a stylishly shot scene of the unpredictable violence that erupts unannounced, the narrative jumps through a series of short stories of the corruption, greed and violence perpetrated by all kinds of people who are just products of a system that has gone completely rotten.

Businessmen, ambitious young men and even children find themselves drawn into all manner of vices as they look to earn money and respect. We follow a man running a waste disposal company whose irresponsible practices are destroying lives, a boy who sees crime as a viable career path, and a young duo who are dead set on domination in the mould of Tony Montana.

What makes Gomorrah so appealing is not just that it looks at the impact of gang culture through various sections of society, but that it avoids a majority of pitfalls that such a path might offer.

Over stylising it would result in 'another gangster movie', opting for a more documentary-style approach would raise accusations of preachiness and alienate a big section of cinema audiences, and focussing too heavily on one or two characters would draw attention away from the real meat of the movie.

What Matteo Garrone has done is cleverly combine the gritty hand-held look that has become so popular in hard-hitting, low-budget films with the kind of focus on real life experiences and themes that put Italian cinema on the map sixty years ago.

That he has done so and still feels justified in stating that 'The raw material I had to work with... was so visually powerful that I merely filmed it in as straightforward a way as possible, as if I were a passerby' speaks volumes about the content of this film.

4/5

The review was brought to you by Screenjabber.com

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