When you hear the words Italian Mafia, what is the first image that comes to mind? For most viewers, it would be an image from The Godfather Part I or II. Coppola’s masterpieces had such a huge impact, that all the subsequent Hollywood movies – and many international ones – dealing with mafia were influenced by them. Even Scorsese’s latest work, The Irishman, has so many instances that remind you of The Godfather – from the early baptism scene to background music that sounds similar to the one by Nino Rota.
Here’s the thing though. How much of it represents the reality of today? What Coppola portrayed in The Godfather series and most subsequent mafia movies by other prominent Hollywood directors represent the Boomers (1944-1964) and Gen X (1965-1979). The illustrious list includes Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, Scarface. There are masterpieces representing earlier period like The Untouchables that happens during the prohibition era and Gangs of New York based in 1862 New York.
We have crossed two generations and we live in the high tech era of smartphones and VR. Surely, things have changed since the times of sending messages with dead fishes or severed horse heads. What does today’s mafia look like? The 25 best mafia movies on IMDB fail to provide a suitable answer. (Update : I saw Gomorra recently and wondered why it was not included in this IMDB list. Like Suburra : Blood on Rome it shows the reality of the notorious Casalesi clan that is part of Comorra. Comorra is one of the largest and oldest crime syndicate that operates from Naples and Caserta in southern Italy.)
Then comes a series produced by Netflix called Suburra : Blood on Rome. Suburra is a suburb in Rome. The series is a prequel to the movie Suburra, based on true events. Suburra is a tense drama where the main parties are the mafia, the politicians, and the Vatican. It all starts with a piece of land in Ostia that is owned jointly by the Vatican and the Adami family. Everyone is trying to get a piece of it. Samurai (Francesco Acquaroli), a fierce gangster who is backed by the mafia from Palermo, is one of the main contenders. Then there is Sara Monaschi (Claudia Gerini) who is an accountant at the Vatican and wants the land for her husband’s company. To complicate the matters, there is the clan of gypsies headed by Manfred Anacleti (Adamo Dionisi) who also want to stake a claim. There is also Amedeo Cinaglia (Filippo Negro), member of the council of Rome who joins hands with mafia to get help in the upcoming elections for Mayor.
While these are and remain major characters, the series is soon taken over by three friends who try to run the show. They are Aureliano Adami (Alessandro Borghi), the only heir of the Adami family; Alberto Spadino Anacleti (Giacomo Ferrera), the only heir of the Anacleti clan and Gabriele Lele Marchilli (Eduardo Valdarnini), son of an honest cop.
Almost immediately, you see stark contrast between the Hollywood idea of Italian mafia that you have been carrying in your head and the reality today. This is Gen Z (1995-2015) and it has almost nothing in common with the boomers. The lead characters are in their twenties, with tattoos all over and mohawk hairstyles. Gone is the classical music of Nino Rota, this generation’s anxiety ridden dilemmas are best captured by Italian rap. Even the older characters are different. Samurai does not drive a black car as gangsters are always shown to do, he drives a 2002 Yamaha T-Max 500 and he wears a helmet.
One of the major shortcomings of Hollywood mafia movies is that there are no strong women characters with criminal tendencies. Women with strong roles are rare like Kay Adams played by Diane Keaton in The Godfather. In Suburra, almost all women characters are gangsters or criminals, like Angelica (Carlotta Antonella), bride of Spadino who helps her husband in running the operations while Livia Adami (Barbara Chichiarelli) is an active participant in all her father’s shady deals. The biggest surprise though, is Adelaide (Paola Sotgiu), mother of Spadino and Manfred. After Manfred gets injured in a shooting and goes in coma, Adelaide takes over and runs the show for a while. Imagine that instead of Michael, Mama Corleone takes over the family business after Sonny is killed by Barzini. This is the extent of how much things have changed since the days of The Godfather. Or there is Alice (Rosa Diletta Rossi), Cinaglia’s second wife. When she gets an inkling that her husband is doing some shady business for political gains, instead of telling him to stop, she tells him to go ahead and do ‘whatever needs to be done.’ This is a major scoring point for Suburra. It does not treat women as saints, as many Hollywood mafia movies do. It treats them as humans – as conniving, ruthless and cruel as any of the men.
One thing I always like about European directors is how they film Europe. When you see Hollywood directors filming in Europe, the tourist eye is very obvious. In how many Hollywood movies, the action always happens either near the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum or on the banks of Venice? The latest Netflix series Underground 6 opens in Florence, Italy with the famous cathedral, Duomo, playing a part. I get it that you have to tell the viewer that the action has shifted to this country but showing such well known landmarks now seems just lazy. There are any number of innovative ways through which you can indicate the location. In Suburra, you see the real Rome, its back alleys and it’s slums. Sure, there are shots of the Vatican or the Colosseum but they are fleeting and natural.
A great thing about Italians is their sentiments are rarely hurt. Suburra shows the ugly dealings of the Vatican with the mafia done by corrupt priests. And yet, there have been no protests by religious fanatics in Italy. I don’t know which country you come from but imagine the situation in your country. Does it have the same level of freedom of speech? In case of India, there would be civil war if something like Suburra is made with the backdrop of Indian religions.
Suburra is edgy and engrossing, backed by some powerful performances. And it represents the ground reality of Italian mafia today – that it is in bed with the politicians and the Church.
