Gomorrah (2008) Gomorra (original title)

Director:

Matteo Garrone

Writers:

Roberto Saviano (book)
Maurizio Braucci (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 May 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families.

Plot Keywords:

Italy | Five Stories | Criminal | Mafia | Camorra

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 23 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Salvatore Abruzzese	...	Totò
Simone Sacchettino	...	Simone
Salvatore Ruocco	...	Boxer
Vincenzo Fabricino	...	Pitbull
Vincenzo Altamura	...	Gaetano (as Gaetano Altamura)
Italo Renda	...	Italo
Francesco Pirozzi	...	Michele
Antonio Aiello	...	Farrel
Vincenzo Caso	...	Enzo
Anna Sarnelli	...	Totò's mother
Salvatore Russo	...	O'Lungo
Antonio Spina	...	O'Zi Bi
Francesco Paesano	...	O'Chiatto
Marco Stanchi	...	Killer in tanning salon
Armando Irace	...	Killer in tanning salon
Lucia Cerullo	...	Woman in tanning salon
Leonardo Caforio	...	Gigante
Dora Angelone	...	Maria's friend
Angelo Aliberti	...	Man in quarry
Luigi Caputo	...	Luigi
Gabriele Rainone	...	Policeman
Anna Liparulo	...	Neighborhood Girl
Giuseppina Cervizzi	...	Neighborhood Girl
Antonietta Restelli	...	Neighborhood Girl
Rosa Granato	...	Neighborhood Girl
Antonio Amato	...	Totò's friend
Antonio Bastelli	...	Totò's friend
Domenico Caruso	...	Totò's friend
Fabio Corvietto	...	Totò's friend
Gaetano di Tota	...	Totò's friend
Gianfelice Imparato	...	Don Ciro
Maria Nazionale	...	Maria
Salvatore Striano	...	Scissionista
Carlo Del Sorbo	...	Don Carlo (as Carlo del Sorbo)
Vincenzo Bombolo	...	Bombolone
Salvatore Troie	...	Cashier
Rosaria Capuozzo	...	Cashier
Addolorata Tenizio	...	Widow
Andrea Mincione	...	Ex-serviceman
Claudio De Lucia	...	Palo
Toni Servillo	...	Franco
Carmine Paternoster	...	Roberto
Alfonso Santagata	...	Dante
Massimo Emilio Gobbi	...	Entrepreneur
Salvatore Caruso	...	Quarry director
Antonio D'Angelo	...	Baron
Roberto Comacchio	...	Trucker
Salvatore Lorino	...	Wounded trucker
Ibrahim Yacoubou	...	Captain
Fortunato Cerlino	...	Farmer's son
Enza Castaldo	...	Farmer's daughter
Denis Bajrami	...	Kid driving truck
Gianni Jasar	...	Kid driving truck
Bjaran Memed	...	Kid driving truck
Tetik Nesim	...	Kid driving truck
Italo Celoro	...	Farmer
Salvatore Cantalupo	...	Pasquale
Gigio Morra	...	Iavarone
Ronghua Zhang	...	Xian (as Zhang Ronghua)
Emanuela Villagrossi	...	Northern entrepreneur
Manuela Lo Sicco	...	Pasquale's Wife
Ettore Cuocolo	...	Accountant
Riccardo Zinna	...	Entrepreneur
Maria De Fortis Nadi	...	Serena
Linhe Zheng	...	Interpreter
Guoquine Long	...	Long (as Long Guoqine)
Ciro Petrone	...	Ciro
Marco Macor	...	Marco
Giovanni Venosa	...	Giovanni
Vittorio Russo	...	Vittorio
Bernardino Terracciano	...	Bernardino
Costantino Migliaccio	...	Gang member
Marcello D'Angelo	...	Gang member
Santolo Matrone	...	Gang member
Tommy Terracciano	...	Night club cashier
Giuseppe Terracciano	...	Killer at the beach
Adolfo Crisato	...	Killer at the beach
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alda D'Eusanio	...	Herself (voice) (archive sound) (uncredited)

Directed by
Matteo Garrone

Writing credits
Roberto Saviano		(book)
Maurizio Braucci		(screenplay) &
Ugo Chiti		(screenplay) &
Gianni Di Gregorio		(screenplay) &
Matteo Garrone		(screenplay) &
Massimo Gaudioso		(screenplay) &
Roberto Saviano		(screenplay)

Produced by
Laura Paolucci	....	production delegate
Domenico Procacci	....	producer

Cinematography by
Marco Onorato

Film Editing by
Marco Spoletini

Casting by
Costanza Boccardi
Alessandra Tutolo

Production Design by
Paolo Bonfini

Costume Design by
Alessandra Cardini

Makeup Department
Alessandro Bertolazzi	....	makeup designer
Dalia Colli	....	makeup artist
Daniela Tartari	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Gianluca Chiaretti	....	production manager
Gianni Di Prisco	....	assistant unit manager
Valerio Palusci	....	unit production manager
Michela Rossi	....	production director
Claudio Zampetti	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrea Tagliaferri	....	assistant director
Gianluigi Toccafondo	....	first assistant director (as Gian Luigi Toccafondo)

Art Department
Gianni Cuorvo	....	props
Luca De Stefano	....	props
Gennaro Gallo	....	props
Alberto Landolfi	....	props
Paola Peraro	....	assistant production designer
Fabrizio Petito	....	props
Sergio Vitolo	....	props
Blazej Wasiak	....	property master (as Wasiak Blazej Przemysl)

Sound Department
Daniela Bassani	....	sound editor
Jo Caron	....	adr and foley recordist (as Jocelyn Caron)
Christopher Eakins	....	sound effects editor
Andrea Fiorentini	....	sound master
Guy Francoeur	....	foley artist
Maricetta Lombardo	....	sound
Luca Novelli	....	boom operator
Gabriel J. Serrano	....	sound recordist
Leslie Shatz	....	sound designer
Leslie Shatz	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Fabrizio Cucinotta	....	film scanner and recorder operator: efilm

Stunts
Daniele Nguyen	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Maurizio Augelli	....	generator operator
Davide Bartoletti	....	grip
Maurizio Broglio	....	electrician
Vincenzo Busiello	....	electrician
Fabio Clemente	....	key grip
Italo Clemente	....	grip
Antonio Cuomo	....	assistant electrician
Jonata d'Aria	....	assistant electrician
Regine de Lazarris	....	assistant camera (as Regine De Lazzaris)
Massimo Dechellis	....	electrician (as Massimo De Chellis)
Matteo Garrone	....	camera operator
Eleonora Patriarca	....	first assistant camera
Marco Perfetti	....	grip
Euglen Sota	....	video assist
Mario Spada	....	still photographer
Marcello Tallone	....	chief electrician
Piergiorgio Grande	....	video assist (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Giovanni Addante	....	assistant costume designer
Rachele Borriello	....	dress maker

Editorial Department
Mario Cinotti	....	assistant editor
Angelo Francavilla	....	color technician
Giovanni Guardi	....	post-production coordinator
Carlo Macagni	....	technical editor
Alessandro Pagnini	....	technical supervisor
Antonio Salvatori	....	color technician
Giuliana Sarli	....	assistant editor
Monica Verzolini	....	post-production
Neri Nazzareno	....	final colorist (uncredited)
Daniela Sarli	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Giovanni Guardi	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Antonio Altea	....	accountant
Gennaro Aquino	....	location manager
Adelina Arcidiaco	....	production coordinator
Barbara Balsamo	....	advisor: documents
Luigi Busiello	....	production secretary
Vincenzo Busiello	....	production secretary
Melania Cacucci	....	backstage
Tatiana Caratelli	....	administration
Manuela Cavallari	....	press office: collaborator
Marinella Di Rosa	....	press office: collaborator
Gaetano di Vaio	....	production secretary
Adele Gallo	....	crowd marshall
Paolo Giulietti	....	administrator
Camillo Leporati	....	set technician
Francesco Melis	....	production secretary
Simona Morgantini	....	administrator
Bianca Manuela Nesi	....	administrator
Massimiliano Pacifico	....	crowd marshall
Barbara Pierro	....	young actors supervisor
Michele Quartullo	....	set technician
Tarek Ricci	....	set technician
Francesco Ruggiero	....	production secretary
Francesca Santi	....	continuity
Martin Scorsese	....	presenter: USA release
Daniela Staffa	....	press office
Elio Terribili	....	set technician

Thanks
Nino D'Angelo	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Fandango
• Rai Cinema (in collaboration with)
• Sky (in collaboration with)
• Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC) (support)
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne (developed with the support of)

Distributors

• 01 Distribuzione (2008) (Italy) (theatrical)
• ABC Distribution (2009) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• ABC Distribution (2009) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• ABC Distribution (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• AFS Film (2009) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2009) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2009) (Chile) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2009) (Paraguay) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2009) (Uruguay) (theatrical)
• Alta Classics (2009) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (2009) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Babilla Ciné (2009) (Colombia) (theatrical)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2009) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Cinema Mondo (2009) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Cinemien (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Eco Films (2009) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (2009) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Filmtrade (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
• IFC Films (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Japan Community Cinema Center (2011) (Japan) (theatrical) (in association with)
• Kinokuniya (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Le Pacte (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Maywin Media (2009) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Mermaid Film (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2009) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2009) (Iceland) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2009) (Norway) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2009) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Optimum Releasing (2008) (UK) (theatrical)
• Orlando Films (2009) (Israel) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2008) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2008) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Seville Pictures (2009) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Syrena Films (2009) (Poland) (theatrical)
• 01 Distribuzione (2008) (Italy) (DVD)
• Canana Films (2009) (Mexico) (all media)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Discovery Film & Video Distribution (2009) (Croatia) (all media)
• E1 Entertainment (2009) (Canada) (DVD)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2009) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Homescreen (2009) (Belgium) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2009) (Australia) (all media)
• NonStop Entertainment (2008) (Sweden) (all media) (Scandinavia)
• Pan Vision Oy (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Ricci (special effects)

Other Companies

• 01 Distribuzione  press office
• Assessorato al Patrimonio e al Demanio del Comune di Napoli  thanks
• Assessorato alle Politiche della Mobilità Urbana del Comune di Napoli  thanks
• Bar tavola calda Edoardo Angeloni  catering
• C.S. Cinematografica Stiffi Roma  drivers provided by
• Campania Film Commission  thanks
• Casa Editrice Mondadori  book published in Italy (as Arnoldo Mondadori Editore)
• Cinema Service  young actors' management
• Cinesicurtà  insurance consultant
• Comune di Napoli  thanks
• Europcar Italia  car rent
• Farrar, Strauss & Giraux  book published in the U.S.
• Framinia di Nicoletti Nicola & C.  safety
• Michelaelite  costumes
• Ombre Elettriche  subtitles
• Panalight  camera equipment provided by
• Penta Studio  titles
• Petrazzi Team  stunts
• Polizia Locale di Napoli  thanks
• R.E.C.  lighting equipment
• Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI)  thanks
• S.A.M.  AVID system
• Soundtrack  trailer
• Studio Legali Ponti-De Sanctis & Partners  legal consulting (as Pont De Sanctis & Partners Studio Legale)
• T.&D. S.a.s. Angeloni Concetta & C. Napoli  drivers provided by
• Teatri Uniti  casting
• Technicolor Sound Services Roma  sound post-production
• Technicolor  release printing
• Technicolor  post-production facilities
• Wildfire Studios  sound post-production
• Wildfire Studios  sound re-recording

Also Known As:

"Gomorra" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

137 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Neapolitan | Italian | Mandarin | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:T | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Norway:15 | Brazil:18 | Finland:K-15 | Sweden:15 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Argentina:16 | USA:Not Rated | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Mexico:C | France:U (with warning) | Australia:M | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Naples, Campania, Italy

Company:

Fandango

Trivia:

Won the Grand Prix at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival, 2008

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the beginning of the movie you can clearly see the character named "Amerigo" (America) belly moving, when his dead body remains on the chair, where he has been having his nails cut.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "De wereld draait door: Episode #4.31" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Sadeness Part 1 (Violent Us Remix)

A bit fragmented and unhelpful to the uninitiated but still a bleak and realistic drama

Some publications gave Gomorra a perfect rating, while others gave more basic reviews but, in a week where The Times reviewed about 10 new releases and gave this 5 stars and everything else 1 or 2, I decided this was a film I should check out and that The House Bunny could perhaps wait for another time (specifically, when it is the last film on Earth). Gomorra opens with a beauty salon hit which I imagine is meant to introduce us to the violent and treacherous world of the Cammora crime syndicate in the locality of Naples, Italy. As an impacting opening, it does work but the "introduction" idea is sadly where the film is roundly weak and it does mean that it has the potential to confuse.

Before I get a barrage of messages pointing out to me that cousins shouldn't marry, I do not mean that I could not follow the specific threads of the film but just that the film offers nothing to inform the new viewer of the world that we are about to enter. I'm not sure the best of doing this but certainly at first I didn't totally appreciate the scale of the organisation, the structure or the setting and it took me a minute as a result to get into the stories. Unlike similar films, the separate threads never really come together in any way other than they share a grounding in location and the problem of the Cammora. Outside of a specific introduction for those coming in cold, the film does give a sort of introduction to the problem as we first follow one of the characters around the nightmarish, enclosed estate of flats which seems to perform the task of judge and prison-officer as those born into it have little opportunity to escape it and essentially have their fate sealed by virtue of their environment.

Within this feat of architecture we follow several threads including a money-man, a boy getting into the life on the lowest rung, a man starting out in the corrupt world of waste management, a black-market tailor looking to earn a bit more on the side and two young men who decide to seize power in their region from the old, fat men who sit at the top. In terms of engagement, there isn't really a huge emotional draw within the film but instead it all feels very realistic and dead - so it is not so much that you feel for the specific characters so much as you have a constant sense of hopelessness and of how small and petty it all it. This is not the Italian gangsterisms of The Godfather where there is a certain sense of class and aspiration, in Gomorra the top men are trapped in the world the same as everyone else - with more money perhaps but they are not living in mansions or controlling things from a tropical island. The delivery of the film helps this as it is well shot on location and has a hand-held feel of grit and dirt. I didn't really like the technique employed throughout where the focus was on the subject in the close foreground and everything else was blurred, even as it came into play in the scene but otherwise it was well done, with the sudden moments of violence made more impacting by not being seen due to confusion simulated in the camera or by quick editing.

Gomorra has been compared to City of God, Goodfellas and all the other crime films that get wheeled out for reviews. In most ways this is not really a fair description because Gomorra does not have the style and flair of those films, nor do all the narrative threads come together neatly in the way we have come to expect. However it is still an engagingly bleak and realistic look into the world of the Cammora that is well done even if it has flaws. It is not "enjoyable" per se due to the lack of flair, but it is a very good film nonetheless and, like City of God did with City of Men, it offers the potential for a mini-series to further explore and find stories from within this world.