A still from the film.
A still from the film.
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Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah
Hosted by Stephen Schaefer
Originally aired 12/1/08
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.
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