Francesco Munzi's absorbing second feature does for Calabria's 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate some of what Matteo Garrone's 2008 film Gomorrah did for the Camorra of Naples.
The difference? Munzi keeps the gunfire to a bare minimum, dwelling instead on inter- and cross-generational tensions in the drug-dealing Carbone family.
Brothers Luigi and Rocco have left their poor, rural home for Milan, where the first provides the muscle and the second the brains. Hot-headed nephew Leo, having shot up the premises of a local bar owner who disrespected him, wants to join them up north. However Leo's father, eldest brother Luciano, prefers a life of goat-herding and farming and wants none of the trouble that also resulted in the murder of Leo's grandfather. But when Luigi returns to their Calabrian home town, his appearance stirs old blood feuds and fresh rivalries, with predictable consequences.
There's nothing predictable about the ending, though, as Munzi crafts a genre-defying final act to this poised and powerful drama. A slow-burn treat made even more redolent of the real Italy by the use of non-actors in lesser roles.
Barry Didcock
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