Total success or failure?

I have just finished reading the book Romanzo Criminale, and what a book it is!
I think it has truly great potential as far as a film is concerned, but there is one thing that worries me - it would be almost impossible I think to fit the character and epic scope of this book into a 2 or 3 hour film - surely something much bigger (such as a multi-part TV series) is needed here? Well maybe I'm wrong and they really will be able to pull it off on this one film.