UN COMPLICATO INTRIGO DI DONNE, VICOLI E DELITTI (CAMORRA)

Italy, 1986, 115 minutes, Colour.
Angela Molina, Harvey Keitel.
Directed by Lina Wertmuller.

Camorra is yet another film about the Mafia. However, it was filmed in Naples and was directed by an Italian director.

Lina Wertmuller had a strong reputation during the 1970s and 1980s with such social-minded films as All Screwed Up, Swept Away, Seven Beauties, A Night Full of Rain and Blood Feud. She is a strong director, her films not pulling any punches. Over the decades she looked at many aspects of Italian society, corruption as well as portraits of Italian characters and temperament. This serves her well in exploring the world of the Mafia.

She used international stars of the period, Angela Molina from Spain and Harvey Keitel from the United States. The film was successful in winning awards both at the Berlin film festival as well as at a number of award ceremonies in Italy itself.

1.The Italian settings? The Italian south? Naples? The images of the city, of the countryside?

2.The location photography, setting up moods? The neighbourhoods in Naples? The homes, the streets? The musical score, the songs, the dancing?

3.The very Italian style of the film? Its being called operatic? The international stars?

4.Audience knowledge of the Mafia traditions? The status of the Mafia in Italy? The foundation, the purpose, in Sicily, in southern Italy? The codes that it lived by? The crime and drugs of the 1980s? The transition to drug crime? The role of the police – and corruption? Politicians? People? The film with a message about the Mafia?

5.A feminine perspective on the film, from the writer-director, the central focus on Annunziata? Her being the focus of the film, the nature of her life, within this context? Her child? Toto? The apartment? Sexual relationships? The dead man, the mystery, the police? Sharing with Toto? The boss? Franco and his relationship? The son? The nature of the investigations? The abduction and death? The re-creation of the killing? The son taking over? Toto’s death? Anger, Franco and the clashes? The role of drugs? Dealing? The women in this context? The truth? Franco’s death, Annunziata’s solidarity?

6.The film’s focus on the role and place of women in this kind of society, men, children? A drug world? Exploitation? Decision making? Violence? The boss, wives and mistresses, killings? The wife and her shooting her husband?

7.The children, the victims of this way of life, victims of drugs? Defiance? Vengeance?

8.Franco and his character, Harvey Keitel’s presence and performance? Relationship? The deals, with Annunziata, with the bosses? Greed and violence? Love? The investigations? The funerals, the celebrations? The build-up the ending, the confrontation and his death?

9.Toto and his story, the rape, the prostitute, the dancer? Sofia? As Neapolitan characters? His interactions with Annunziata? Help, chase, the death?

10.The patriarch, and his son? The Mafia, eyes? Music? The investigation? The truth, angers? Getting rid of drugs?

11.The world of Mafia business, the pressures, the practical details of the drug trade? The cruelty of the men? Vicious, the abductions, lies and deaths?

12.The role of the police, integrity, the possibilities for corruption? Matching violence with violence?

13.A glimpse into Italian society, the 19th century, the transition of Mafia codes to contemporary gangsterism? Corruption, justice? The traditions? The stance of the film?