The
‘Ndrangheta is to Calabria what the Camorra is to Naples. Although they are
considered more provincial amongst Italian criminal networks, they have an
international reach and a presumed alliance with the Sicilian Mafia.
Nonetheless, there are still organized along familial lines. Consequently, past
grievances often lead to violence and normal family dysfunction can cause long
term destabilization in Francesco Munzi’s decidedly un-romanticized Black Souls (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
Luciano
is the oldest of the Carbone brothers, but he largely rejected the family business,
preferring to keep a herd of goats and a modest farm in remote Africo, the
ancient seat of the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate. His younger brother Luigi is the
swaggering public face of the Carbones, while the youngest brother Rocco
handles all the dodgy accounting. Luciano’s rebellious son Leo looks up to his
uncles, particularly Luigi, the charismatic tough guy.
Impulsively,
Leo shoots up a bar aligned with the Carbones’ long-standing rivals, the
Barracas, who were responsible for the murder of the brothers’ father. Luigi
knows this for a fact, because he was there when it happened. Naturally, Leo’s
hasty actions will have serious implications. While Luciano and Rocco are
inclined to keep a lid on things, Luigi is sympathetic to Luigi’s injured pride.
He has also been planning against the Barracas, but unfortunately, they are way
ahead of him.
Inspired
by real life events described in Gioacchino Criaco’s novel, Black Souls combines the naturalistic
ethnographic detail of Gomorrah with
the honor-driven tragedy of a Puzo novel. It reminds us both the word and the
concept of “vendetta” came from Italy. For Munzi, it is all about the ‘Ndrangheta’s
tribalism and the tension between their old world traditionalism and New World
commerce. What happens in Africo directly reverberates in Milan. Despite Rocco’s
sophistication and Luigi’s indulgent lifestyle, there are never very far
removed from Luciano’s goats. In fact, Luigi’s loyal deputy Nicola can butcher
purloined livestock with the best of them.
As
Luigi, Marco Leonardi struts like he means business, but Peppino Mazzotta is
even more compelling as the bean-counting Rocco, suddenly thrust into a family
leadership role. Barbora Bobulova is also terrific as his elegant trophy wife forced
to confront the old school realities of the Africo clan. However, Giuseppe Fumo’s
Leo is just another petulant teen, who seems to exist simply to move the narrative
along with each successive poor decision.
