Gomorrah 2009

In Naples in 2004, a tense feud erupts between the Di Lauro Camorra clan and the secessionists, led by Raffaele Amato, setting off a web of consequences that touches many lives. The film threads together five interwoven stories against this backdrop of violence, loyalty, and survival, showing how ordinary people are pulled into a world ruled by fear, money, and retribution.

Don Ciro, Toni Servillo, is a timid middleman who distributes money to the families of imprisoned Di Lauro members. As the feud intensifies, he is ambushed during a delivery by two secessionists. Fearing for his life, he offers to switch sides, but they rebuff him and force him to “pay” for his life by guiding them to the people who hold the money. He leads them to the stash where the cash is counted, and the pair execute everyone present, sparing only Ciro long enough to walk away with blood spattered on his clothes and an uncertain future ahead.

Totò is a 13-year-old grocery delivery boy who becomes entangled in the street’s dangerous logic. He witnesses drug dealers abandon a bag of drugs and a gun while fleeing the police in the Vele di Scampia, returns the items to the gang, and asks to join. His initiation is grim—a cavernous test where he is shot while wearing a bulletproof vest. As the feud tightens its grip, families with loyalties in question are forced to relocate to avoid violence. Totò’s world turns brutal when a fellow gang member is killed in a drive-by, and the gang decides to strike back by targeting Maria, whose son has joined a Secondigliano secessionist group. Totò, who has previously delivered groceries to Maria, is coerced into luring her out of her apartment, where she is killed by the gang.

Roberto is a young graduate working in waste management. He becomes entangled with Franco, his boss, who runs a low-cost toxic waste disposal operation that allows northern interests to dump chromium, asbestos, and other hazardous materials in the southern countryside. A disastrous spill during a disposal run and the ensuing cover-ups reveal a world where even children are used to move dangerous loads. When Roberto and a rural family decide to permit the burial of toxic substances to ease their debts, he is shown a basket of peaches by an elderly farmer—only to be told later that they are contaminated. Roberto ultimately chooses to quit, as Franco rationalizes their harm by claiming it helped Italy join the European Union by solving problems others caused, and he walks away along a desolate countryside road, pondering a different, cleaner path.

Pasquale is a couture tailor tied to the Camorra through factory owner Iavarone. He takes night jobs training Chinese garment workers, who are pivotal in competing with Camorra-controlled firms. When their presence triggers a deadly drive-by, Pasquale survives but resigns from his post. Later, working as a truck driver, he sees Scarlett Johansson on TV wearing one of his dresses and experiences a bittersweet smile as he reflects on the thin line between art, ambition, and crime.

Marco and Ciro are two eager but impulsive wannabe gangsters who idolize Hollywood gangster lore and frequently quote Scarface in Walter Schiavone’s villa, dreaming of power and wealth. They score their first big take by robbing African immigrants during a drug purchase at Hotel Boomerang, Castel Volturno. News of their reckless bravado reaches a local mob boss who warns them to stop. Ignoring the warning, they steal weapons from Camorra holdouts and shoot for thrills along the banks of the Regi Lagni canal estuary. With money dwindling, they turn to a video arcade robbery and splurge at a strip club. The mob chieftain orders their return of the weapons within a day and tasks them with killing Peppe “o Cavallaro” as a test. They accept, only to discover the contract is a trap. They are ambushed by Giovanni, Bernardino, Vittorio and others at an abandoned beach resort, and their bodies are carried away by a front-end loader, marking the brutal end of their reckless ascent.

Through these stories, the film paints a stark mosaic of a city where violence, money, and ambition blur moral lines, and where choices made in fear or for protection ripple outward, affecting families, workers, and dreamers alike. The interwoven narratives emphasize how the feud reshapes daily life, relocations, loyalties, and the very sense of safety in a community living under the shadow of organized crime.