MovieChat Forums > Gomorrah (2016) Discussion > Cruelty and lack of principles (spoilers...

Cruelty and lack of principles (spoilers)

posted 7 years ago by peide77
7 replies | jump to latest

Another US Italian mafia vs Italian mafia in Italy thread:

Italian mob strikes me as much more violent, ruthless and cruel.

I understand that all of them are sociopaths and arch criminals, but killing civilians in Gomorra is a bit over the top. Killing your own wife, killing children, innocent bystanders. In the US mafia looks like the do have some kind of code- not to kill the civilians, "no women, no children" (Leon) thing, or am I wrong?

Also not to avenge your own blood? (Genny letting Ciro get away with his mother's murder), rat out the father of your wife to the police (Genny). Are there no principles at all?

Any thought on that?

[–] dps-rocha 7 years ago

It does seem incredibly sociopathic and, if I'm being honest, pretty far fetched. I think the show is trying to show how far things have fallen and how everyone has an evil side but they have taken it too far to the point where it will now lose any emotion. Killing the little girl in cold blood is the lowest it could go, save perhaps an attack on Genny's baby.

There's two more seasons now where they have to build that tension that worked so well in season one and I'm not sure how they will do that because as a viewer you will stop caring as you don't build any emotional investment in the characters.

In reality I don't think the Camorra are anywhere near as ruthless as in the show. Politicians, law figures, perhaps the clergy or some other public figure who goes against them may be targets but killing innocent women and children would do nothing but hinder their business and turn the communities in which they operate into informants.

[–] paolo-severini-1 7 years ago

This is a news from last week:
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2534404/girl-10-shot-and-migrant-stallholders-injured-as-gunman-causes-stampede-in-naples-market/

A small girl (10) was shot in the foot while Camorra hitmen's were trying to kill a few migrant street vendors who had refused to pay (more) protection money. The girl was shot while walking with her dad in the busy central area of Naples, in broad daylight.

There is nothing far fetched: the show depicts today's reality of some parts of Italy. Gangs don't really bother to avoid killing innocent people. If they do it's only because these facts may lead to some backlash and having more police around for a while, but they consider themselves to be the "owners" of the lives of those who live in those territories.

The difference between American and Italian mafia is interesting; I am not an expert, but from what I've understood the mafia gangs in the States were fighting for the control of illegal activities. Mafia in some parts of Italy are actually ruling the territory as if they were a state inside a state, electing mayors and politicians, and so on. (Even though, I remember that even in the Sopranos gangs were asking for protection money to shopkeepers and small business, so in this sense they were controlling their territory too). There is no doubt anyway that mafia in Italy is much more deeply rooted and integrated in society, while in the States it's more a matter of "if we do not sell drugs somebody else will".

[–] dps-rocha 7 years ago

The 10 year old girl seems to have been caught in the cross fire (I read the articles), this is very different from planning and carrying out the murder of a young girl as depicted in the show.

I know that the gangs in Naples are much more brazen and practically control some areas but I hope the show doesnt run out of steam by pulling out its aces too soon.

[–] paolo-severini-1 7 years ago

But the 10 year old girl in the show was the daughter of a enemy gang member, so absolutely fair game. Other example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Di_Matteo (from Sicilian mafia this time): in 1996 Giuseppe di Matteo the 11 year old son of a turncoat gangster was kidnapped, held prisoner for 26 months (twenty-six months!), tortured and then strangled and dissolved in acid.
Tell me about cruelty and lack of principles... :-(

[–] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

? Boiling a baby in front of their mothers eyes is nothing to some of these guys. Empathy is not something you grow old with in crime.