Jamie passion and passionfruit!

The film of the book – the revealing inside story of the mafia as written by the now haunted writer Roberto Saviano.  It takes five stories which show us different facets of the mafia: their involvement in the haute couture fashion trade, the dumping of toxic waste, their control of poor neighbourhoods and paying off of families whose members are in jail for mafia work plus a couple of storylines about how new members are recruited or dissuaded. It is tough stuff and distinctly depressing at times even if Matteo Garrone’s direction keeps things moving along at a great pace.  The cast is largely amateur but the whole thing comes across as very authentic and just plain sordid and so mundane – frightening really.  Gianfelice Imparato as Don Ciro is one of the most impressive of the characters, but each character and each story comes across as worthy of our attention. Not exactly entertaining but definitely a film to make you think and not so horrendously graphic as to put you off a pretty heavy topic. The sort of film that is important to make and one made with more than a little style.

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