Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah

If you haven't yet heard about Gomorrah, you will. It's
Italian, it was shot in the Naples section where the Mafia rules and
insinuates itself into every aspect of daily life, and it is cast mostly
with locals. It's the greatest Mafia movie ever made. Stripping every
last pretense of romanticism from The Godfather saga, Matteo
Garrone's Italian epic is going to be impossible to beat in the race
for this year's Best Foreign Language Film. It's Italy's
official selection and is set to open here in the States in February.
But Gomorrah has a dreadful legacy that is due to its unvarnished
power to distill reality. Roberto Saviano, just 29, has been under a 24/7
police guard for the last two years because of death threats from the
Naples Mafia who are threatened by the harsh spotlight his expose, a
bestseller in Italy, has shone on their way of business. A news report
this week said that police are investigating a new threat that promised
Saviano would be dead before Christmas.

•