An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice and are forced to obey the rules of the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a normal life.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.72/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
TMDB: 6.9/10
Director
Matteo Garrone
Production
Fandango
Cast
Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Marco Macor, Salvatore Abruzzese, Ciro Petrone, Salvatore Ruocco, Carmine Paternoster, Gaetano Altamura, Italo Renda, Simone Sacchettino, Vincenzo Fabricino, Salvatore Striano, Vincenzo Bombolo, Alfonso Santagata, Ronghua Zhang, Giovanni Venosa, Francesco Pirozzi
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A stark, unsentimental crime drama that treats organized crime as a system of labor, fear, and survival rather than a glamorous underworld. Its fragmented structure and documentary-like realism can feel emotionally distancing, but the film’s force comes from that very coldness.
Best for
Viewers who want crime films stripped of myth and glamour
Fans of social realism and ensemble storytelling
Audiences interested in systemic corruption and everyday violence
People who liked City of God, The Wire, or other grounded crime epics
Skip if
You want a charismatic gangster saga with a single central antihero
You prefer fast pacing and clear emotional payoff
You dislike episodic, overlapping narratives
You need crime films with warmth, redemption, or catharsis
Overview
Gomorrah is a crime film with the shine scraped off. Instead of kings and legends, it follows workers, kids, couriers, tailors, and small-time operators caught inside a machine that runs on money and intimidation. The result is less a mob movie than a portrait of an economy of violence, where everyone is replaceable and nobody is truly in control.
Worth noting
Matteo Garrone’s approach is patient, harsh, and observational. The film’s multiple storylines create a sense of a whole city infected by the same logic, even when the characters never meet. That structure can keep you at arm’s length, but it also makes the world feel larger and more inescapable.
Bottom line
What lingers is the film’s refusal to romanticize anything. There are no grand speeches, no operatic rise-and-fall arc, just pressure, opportunism, and damage spreading outward. It is bleak, rigorous, and often devastating, especially if you respond to crime cinema as social diagnosis rather than entertainment.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Mr. DuLac (4.5★) · 393 likes
A film about organized crime that is the polar opposite of The Godfather. There is nothing glamorous about crime here. It's a film about the foot soldiers that are in the trenches doing the dirty work and barely making a living out of it.
The five intertwined stories show you a multitude of different aspects of organized crime in Naples. When you come down to it, it's all about making money, but the characters in the film aren't the ones… more
CinemaVoid 🏴☠️ (4★) · 204 likes
A glimpse into the unglamorous reality of the inner workings of the Italian mafia. All levels of life are polluted with the putrescent grime of crime. There is no escape. No hope. No redemption. Only mamma mia.
Michael James (3.5★) · 149 likes
An antithesis to all the romanticized myth surrounding our gangster crime dramas out there. It is as raw, realistic and disturbing, brutally showcasing the ugliness and exploitations within organized crime. It portrays how this illegal yet systemic machinery operates with zero mercy whatsoever, wherein each n every person regardless of who they are is ultimately dispensable. It is a slow and uncomfortable watch, but its powerful social commentary lands like a punch to the face. People die, stories end yet the system continues with no remorse.
Justin Peterson (4★) · 131 likes
(The Average Joe’s Movie Club Cast)
Criterion Collection Spine #493(Foreign language film)
A bleak look into the seedy world of the Italian mafia, and the impact it has on the lives of people at all levels of society.
"I'll blast these roaches! ... Who do you think you're fighting? ... I'm number one! Tony Montana! ... The world is ours! ... You don't know who you're up against!"
Director Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah is based on a book from Roberto… more