Comments on 'Gommorah'

From the beginning of the film until the end of it, we are made aware countless times that power, poverty and conflict are a prominent theme across four individual stories. Money is constantly mentioned, such as an opening scene where an elderly man complaining about the amount of bills that he has to pay, stating that 2,000 Euros isn't enough, and a scene near the end of the film where a mobster describes people's debts as being like crops - they just keep on growing. A choice to join a rival gang destroys the friendships between two young boys, and the initiation phase of joining a gang, by wearing a bullet-proof vest and being forced to take gunshots, being left with horrific bruises. There is no other sound at this point - just the gunshots, and because of this our attention is brought to it. It is moments like this that show us how emotionally moving and shocking gunfire can be to the individual - the tension on their faces, like the close-up of the the man who was just threatened by two mobsters, is chilling to see. The use of tracking shots imposes the feeling that their are significant features about some of the characters, and by surround scenes after gunshots with nothing but silence, we are aware of the shock that these events cause.

Unfortunately, all of these powerful shots, I find, appear to drive towards no sense of overall narrative. With emphasise split between four separate groups of characters, and sadly, it seems as if the timing between characters are broken down in to fragments that just don't explain enough about each group. For example, we will have a 2-3 minute focus on one group of characters, surrounded by emotionally provoking imagery, and after that, the emphasis changes. Because of this, we as viewers fail to get any sort of emotional attachment to the characters - I can't even name any of the characters. It is as if we see them, 30-45 minutes later, we see them again, 30-45 minutes later, they are dead. Contextually, 'Gomorrah' sounds as if it would contain much more attaching moments. The author of the book where the film gets it name, Roberto Savino, has been held under police protection since its release in 2006 because of the amount of Cammorra mobsters who want him dead for publishing notes of their activities around Naples, Italy. This factor made me build excitement towards the film, thinking that detailed and frightening events would portrayed on-screen. While many of the scenes are frightening and disturbing, such as the closing shot of two dead bodies being carried away in a large digger (it shows that they are not humans, but just more litter to be cleared up from the floor), they are no detailed. As I have mentioned above, it seems that individual plots are cut far too short, and resumed far too late so we lose attachment.

However, the cinematography is used powerfully, it is just shame that this power appears to drive towards no narrative. For example, after a scene where a car has crashed, the front rolls right up towards the camera screen, creating a close-up. At this moment, I felt the intensity that the shot was aiming to create. the Tracking shots used, particularly of the boy sporting an England vest near the beginning, create the impression that the figure are important - our attention is drawn to them, yet we learn little, if anything, about the characters afterwards, as the emphasis on them then changes. A large amount of party music is used during a shoot-out, creating a shocking contrast in terms of what kind of event that the music is suggesting. Sadly, once more though, it then seems as if no developments are made from these points.

The contextual research that I conducted prior to watching 'Gomorrah' made me desperately want to like this film. Unfortunately, with no attachment to any characters whatsoever caused by cutting story extracts way too quickly, the film fails to contain a definite narrative. As I have stated, some very startling and powerful scenes are mused in the film, thanks to the incredible use of cinematography, but seems as if they don't drive any narrative either - they are just there. Powerful images, it seems, without a story.