Gomorra

We went to see this movie with 10 people from BeWelcome and other hospitality exchange networks, and I doubt anybody was left unmoved. The realistic way in which life in a part of Napels is portrayed shocked me. This is Europe. This is Italy. This is something I knew nothing off. Sure, I had heard about the maffia, and in American movies (The Godfather) and series (The Sopranos) it looks like it is a life-style, a glamorous way to do business.

But when you see Gomorra and realize that a whole part of Italian life is interwoven with this disease, you start to shiver. I mean, being a simple clothes designer might actually bring you into confrontation with the maffia.

A great picture, it feels like a documentary but with people you have to relate to, whether you want it or not. A must see.

4 stars out of 5

"Gomorra," a contemporary Neapolitan mob drama based on an expose of Italy's criminal underbelly by Roberto Saviano, published in the U.S. by Farrar, Strauss & Giraux. That non-fiction book is so hard-hitting that mob threats have forced Saviano into hiding