Gomorrah
Gomorrah along with Sodom are biblical cities synonymous with unrepentant sin. While Sodom traditionally gets top billing, here the second banana stands alone because it sounds so much like Camorra, an organization definitely defined by unrepentant sin. The Camorra is the pervasive crime syndicate that has been engrained into the daily fabric of life in Italy around Naples and Caserta and the copious carnage from its struggle for power is out of control. From the book by Roberto Saviano and with cinematography as gritty as the subject matter we meet a litany of characters (played by unknown but terrific actors) touched in one way or another by this violent lifestyle. Don Ciro is a bagman who distributes hush money to families of jailed gangsters until he finds he has to change allegiance. Toto is a thirteen year old grocery delivery boy with dreams who finds the lifestyle irresistible until he has to make a terrible choice. Only slightly older are Marco and Caro two inadequate punks with enough misguided hubris to think they are clever enough to do their own thing. Joining the white collar crime wing is Roberto, a college grad making his bones by illegally disposing of toxic waste. And then there’s Pasquale, a tailor who after being horrifyingly rebuffed for aiding some upstart Chinese clothiers manages to survive but only by doing like Lot leaving Gomorrah – leaving everything behind and never looking back.