Italy's Official Oscar Submission for Best Foreign Language Film

Winner, Grand Prix, 2008 Cannes Film Festival

Official Selection, 2008 Toronto and New York Film Festivals

Director Matteo Garrone brings cause célèbre author Roberto Saviano's exposé of the Neapolitan mafia (the Camorra) to the screen, and the result is a fresh take on a story we only think we know. Set mainly in two squalid suburbs of housing projects dominated by the Camorra, the film weaves separate narrative strands into a vision of a world where the Camorra's influence and the everyday social fabric are indistinguishable. Believing the Camorra represents manhood and prosperity, a young teen undergoes brutal initiation rights to join a junior division of the organization, while a pair of dim but fearless hooligans try to strike out on their own--emulating SCARFACE's Tony Montana--and for a while they succeed. Meanwhile a respectable businessman becomes involved in the illegal dumping of toxic waste, while a high-fashion tailor supported by the Camorra gets involved in the cutthroat world of knockoff couture, cutting a dangerous deal with Chinese rivals. Devoid of gangster movie cliches, Garrone's observational neo-realism makes his characters both real and strange, and his film a fascinating revelation.

DIR Matteo Garrone; SCR Maurizio Braucci; PROD Domenico Procacci. Italy, 2008, color, 137 min. In Italian, Cantonese and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, November 15, 7:00

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