Il camorrista (1986) ⭐ 7.1 | Crime, Drama (original) (raw)

Camorra is the Italian word for Mafia. Only Americans call the mafia, the mafia. The origins are in Sicily, and affects every major city in Italy. They are apolitical; they align with whomever gives them the best deal. And it does not usually pay for you to oppose them openly.

This is a poor man's Scarface, with some eye-opening content as to why Italy struggled so much in post WW2 Europe. Italy had a large socialist segment at that time (in retaliation for the fascists of Mussolini). The unions, politicians, revolutionary groups, and the Camorra all vied for power in Italy after WW2. This chaos led to Italy falling behind other major powers like Germany, France, and several other countries, economically. The film highlights these problems under Tornatore, a very able director, who, a year later, made the classic, Cinema Paradiso.

Tornatore (who probably came to the same conclusion) did not excel in violence and sex; he was much better at romanticism, for which he eventually became the best in the world at portraying on the screen. He personally revived the Italian film tradition of great films. Unfortunately, this is not one of them, despite the best efforts of Ben Gazzara, is only slightly above average. The film is uneven, due mostly to production values, which are very low.

Some of the settings are quite impressive, but several others are very amateurish. The story about the rise of an intelligent gangster is interesting. At the halfway point, the Professor makes a grave error, as you will see in the film. From there he goes downhill. There really is no one in the film to root for as a protagonist; one of the weaknesses in the film; but then again, some films have no protagonists. Worth viewing as a retrospective of Tornatore's career.