Gomorrah

The one hold-over film from 2008 that I couldn't wait to see was the Italian film, Gomorrah. It had tremendous buzz from Cannes last year where it won the special jury Grand Prix prize (basically 2nd place) wasmet with a slew of rapturous reviews. Martin Scorsesse/IFC picked it up for distribution in the States, and it was Italy's entry for Best Foreign Language Film. I couldn't wait to see it, I had heard and read such great things, and I had just finished the book. Basically, the author of the book, Roberto Saviano infiltrated the Comorra, one of the most brutal mob networks in the world that runs Naples. He spent 3 years undercover doing the research, and after he published the explosive exposé, he was put into police custody and constantly had escorts and body guards because of the amount of death threats he received. Clearly, this had the making of greatness written all over it.I'll admit, the book was quite dense and at quite a few times pretty hard to follow. There were a lot of characters, and Saviano had jumed around quite a bit. But, I decided that I would still see the movie. I waited quite a bit of time; it was initally released in NY and LA the last week of December (to qualify for the Oscars) and finally opened at Kendall Square in Boston. In a few quick words, I was not disappointed.

The film weaves five different storylines of Italians whose lives are affected by organized crime. First up is Don Ciro, a middleman who pays families of imprisoned Comorra members. Toto is a 13 year old delivery boy who wants more than anything to join the gang and be accepted. Roberto is a recent college graduate who works for Franco, who is illegally dumping toxic waste in farmlands. Next we meet Pasquale, a haute-couture designer who is secretly doing business with the Chinese and training them on the

creation of high fashion. Finally, Marco and Ciro are cocky wanna be gangsters who often quote Scarface and have an idealized vision of a life in organized crime. The Commora have an incredible amount of power in Italy, and have control over everything from drugs to clothes to food to exporting. Watching the stories unfold and the amount of unflinching violence was incredible (note; this is not for the squeamish). This movie makes The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos look PG. Everything is done through a deal, and everyone gets paid or wants money for their services. The performances of the mostly unknown Italian cast were outstanding, and the director, Mateo Garrone created, I think, some of the most striking images captured on film (the inspiration for the poster pictured is one of them). Garrone showed a world that almost no one sees but everyone knows about. At multiple times during the film I kept thinking "these people really live like this", and each time, it gave me goosebumps. This is definetly recommened, and has found it's way into my top 10 of 2008. I think it's playing a limited engagement at Kendall, so if you can't see it in theaters, rent it as soon as it's on DVD. There was an interesting epilogue with the film, saying that the Comorra had money invested in the new World Trade Center site in New York. Interesting....

Grade: A

I feel like an old man, everything from my waist down hurts. Today, I re-ran the 5k course, I was a little slower than yesterday (just about 31 minutes, yesterday Nick and I did it in under 30) but I felt a lot better and felt like I had a more consistant pace. My new asics were wonderful, I'm really glad that I took the time to get properly fitted. I think I might have done something to my groin, which was kinda painful, so I got some icy-hot at CVS, we'll see how that works. 11 weeks from today til the big race!