This film is somewhat interesting, but I have no idea why Roberto Saviano is indulging in this sort of self-promotion, given that he has already angered the organized crime bosses of Naples, thereby endangering his own life. Of course, there is nothing morally wrong with exposing the escapades of the mob (nor in publicly enjoining them to leave Italy!), but in this film we are given no information about the content of his book, Gomorrah. Instead, this occasionally amusing documentary focuses upon the author´s difficulties living under 24 hour protective security. The director´s repeated attempts at humor sometimes fall flat and strike me as strange, given the genuine perils faced by the author. Will this film be at all funny if Saviano ends up being whacked? I have to ask.
And does Saviano actually believe that this sort of effort is somehow going to help his cause? It seems to me that, given the primitive, territorial conflict in which he is currently embroiled, with people who have no qualms about erasing from the face of the earth anyone who crosses them, he would do better to move away from Italy, where he can continue his writing in peace, rather than continue to provoke the local mafiosi with this sort of production, which, frankly, makes him seem rather egocentric. From the perspective of those viewers who have not read his book (which is probably 99% of them), this film makes Saviano look as though he is now ¨famous for being famous¨. If he ends up dead at the hands of his adversaries, this film will serve as a cautionary tale: people with contracts on their heads would do better not to produce self-promotional documentaries.
And does Saviano actually believe that this sort of effort is somehow going to help his cause? It seems to me that, given the primitive, territorial conflict in which he is currently embroiled, with people who have no qualms about erasing from the face of the earth anyone who crosses them, he would do better to move away from Italy, where he can continue his writing in peace, rather than continue to provoke the local mafiosi with this sort of production, which, frankly, makes him seem rather egocentric. From the perspective of those viewers who have not read his book (which is probably 99% of them), this film makes Saviano look as though he is now ¨famous for being famous¨. If he ends up dead at the hands of his adversaries, this film will serve as a cautionary tale: people with contracts on their heads would do better not to produce self-promotional documentaries.
