Romanzo criminale

I read the book some years ago, and was really excited that a movie was going to be made out of it. The plot was just perfect and the characters strong enough to work well on screen. Well the movie is quite disappointing, and not because of the script, which in a way does work (except maybe for a foreign audience who will not catch all the political implications of the movie), but for Michele Placido's poor television style of directing and (mainly) for the choice of (most) the actors. These guys should be the worst criminals Rome had ever seen, people you would not have the guts to see in the eyes, but the actors chosen are all the cool and beautiful teenager idols of Italian cinema, surely good actors, but not in the right place this time. This movie could have been a great opportunity to finally export some good Italian cinema...i'm afraid we'll have to wait much more!

It's not that "Romanzo criminale" is a bad movie. It's only a movie we've seen so many times (from the Godfather to Once Upon a Time in America) done so much better.

Storywise, although it is of Italian origin, "Romanzo" is as bland as any new mafia movie, dealing with revenge, honor and family. The script is rather tedious too, with very few moments of sparkle, and even though the movie looks good, it only starts to feel like a watchable movie in its last quarter. And as if it weren't enough that the film is mediocre, it also bears resemblance to an odyssey if we are to consider its playing time and the way I, as a viewer, interpreted it.

The one interesting aspect is related to the political facet of the mafia, and especially to the situation before the fall of the communist regimes. But this definitely doesn't make up for the weak plot. All there is...is a series of events, linked to one another, sprinkled with love but far too hollow to transcend. Sadly.

As the history of modern (1970-95) Italy plays out - the kidnapping of Aldo Mora, the Bologna bombing etc. - a ruthless gang of outsiders are successfully muscling in on Rome's lucrative drug and gambling rackets. Meanwhile, a hard-nosed detective is tracking their activities, seeking evidence to put them away. And lurking even deeper in the background are State black ops figures who may or may not be manipulating both the criminals and the events themselves.

I was expecting the sort of cheap crime exploitation movie that proliferated in Italian cinema back in the 70s, but this is a different, much more ambitious and better type of movie. Crime Novel is structured very much like an Italian version of American Gangster. It has the same intimate yet gritty feel, the same long slow story arc, playing out over years against a background of world events; the dedicated cop who seems like the only police official who sees his duty as catching criminals rather than taking bribes; and drug dealers who see themselves as businessmen providing a service rather than villains, and most of time they are.

The focus is clearly on the gang. They grew up together in the streets. Crime and friendship are what holds them together. They have strong loyalties to those closest to them but can be ruthless to those who oppose them. Individually, they have frailties, but together they are formidable. The script is structured to provide each of the central characters with plenty of screen time, and its strong dialogue and intimate tone create very multi-dimensional and mostly sympathetic portraits.

The resulting movie is very watchable and a worthy companion piece to movies like Carlito's Way, Scarface and American Gangster. Recommended.

Romanzo Criminale is a strange movie. I'm most of the time quite critical about what I see, but about this particular movie, I can't quite seem to make up my mind. I can find a thousand faults to it : the limited storyline doesn't really develop the historical and political context, the actions is sometimes quite difficult to follow, the characters are totally cliché (the-bad-gangster-guyswho falls in love with the-beautiful-virgin-mary-reincarnation, the repented hooker, the good policeman, the really bad godfathers with all their money, the villa by the sea and the twenty-five year old wife. And yet I enjoyed it. It's not the movie of the year but there's a certain something that makes it different, that saves it from being a total mess and a failure, and turns it into a mysterious movie.

American movies have been chock a block with Italian mafia and gangster movie over the years, saturated with the usual clichés aping the genuine classics of the genre. This film, for me at least, is a novelty, an actual gangster movie by Italians based in Rome (Italy).

The film covers the sharp rise to the top by a small tight group of street gangsters, who become the top dogs of the Roman underground world of drugs, prostitution and hit-jobs. The group is really three friends going by their nicknames, and as ever they are surrounded by a large cast of fellow criminals and hoodlums. At the same time they are being hunted down by a dogged policeman who enters a romantic triangle with a beautiful and cunning prostitute who happens to also be the love interest of one of the gangsters. Tricky situation if ever there was one!

The film sweeps from the 70s up to the 90s and follows the characters, showing their self-serving and amoral attitude, but as time unfolds their loyalty is tested to the limit as is their commitment to not only their criminal world but to each other as well.

For me, this film was interesting and clever. The story maps out the main characters identities well, and seems to steer clear of general gangster clichés. I can only recall one mention of the Mafia by name, whilst most of the action took place at the street. The film adds the surprising element of govt/state collusion with the gangsters, but never places a heavy hand on this. The acting was superb especially by "Ice" and Patrizia, but the rest follow suit very well, and it is hard to knock anyone in that respect, whilst the Italian setting adds its beautiful character as the background setting.

On the other hand, the film does fall down on a couple of points. The story seems to move away from the gangster story to soap opera at points with vengeance the main game and plot. Business matters seems to disappear into thin air. Also, the large cast is great to have, but sometimes hard to keep up with who is who, and also what they are doing. More development of certain of the characters would have helped, although I don't want to criticise too much as the cast were excellent as it is.

Overall, a film that is a great interesting and intelligent film, but misses out on being the great modern Italian gangster film that it maybe was aiming for. As in the real world, it appears that the foreign equivalents (e.g. City of God for Brazil) have taken over from the old Italian masters, but a comeback is not out of the question, and hopefully this will be the first of a new burst of quality film making from the Italians.