Film adaptation of Roberto Saviano's novel, La paranza dei bambini. A new incursion into the mafia, by the same author of Gomorrah. But this film is not as good as the other adaptations of the author's works.
The film is currently set in the city of Naples, where the Camorra reigns in the city's neighbourhoods. Where children grow up admiring the mafiosi who control the different areas. Dreaming that one day they will be just as powerful.
Nicola is a fifteen year old young man, living in the district of Sanita, with a little brother and his mother, who runs a laundry. Nicola spends the day with her friends, children who want to have fun, have money, buy brand name clothes, invite girls out to expensive places. They want to have money to spend on the pleasures of life. After doing a robbery with a toy gun, they start working for the boss who controls the area. They are ambitious young men and they want more, the typical betrayals are present, soon they will be the ones who will take control of the district, but with painful consequences.
The appeal of the film is to see the mafia from the point of view of the young people, almost children, whose destiny is marked from birth. They are condemned children in an environment that will give them no other option but to be part of the camorra.
It's no longer the old men who are in control. Now the children and boys who have not come of age, the ones who want to sit on the throne. Be the kings of crime. To be feared and respected, as well as the great bosses of the camorra.
The film portrays a problem in Italian society, but in reality the similarities with other countries are incredible. Young people like those in the film are found in every country. Especially in Latin America, seeing 15-year-olds stealing and killing is a common problem. They are the children of the mafia, they also exist in the United States, England, Brazil, everywhere.
On the internet there is a lot of information about children in criminal organizations, you can search for information if you want to go deeper into this topic. For example, I leave the following link, about the use of children as hitmen, by the Camorra: [Link](https://www.economist.com/europe/2017/06/22/in-naples-the-hit-men-are-children)
Unfortunately, I felt that the film lacked strength, I needed to see a little more rawness, the rise of young people was too fast and there was practically no resistance from the other mafiosi, more experienced than this gang of children.
Filmmaker Claudio Giovannesi , who directed the film, worked on the successful series Gomorrah, created by Saviano. There are many similarities with the series, at times I thought I was watching an episode of Gomorrah. But, the series is superior in storytelling and rawness, which we see in this film. Even, many of those scenes of young people riding their small motorcycles through the streets they dominate, have been seen countless times in the Gomorrah series. Mafia and tragedy are linked, in this story, it becomes predictable what that tragedy will be. I've seen that situation in other films about the world of crime, subtracting the effect of surprise or impact.
The group of young actors have cohesion and are credible. The actor Francesco Di Napoli plays the main character in the story: Nicola. I don't know much about this actor, I think this is his debut in a major film. The responsibility of being the driving force behind the story was great. I think he did the best he could, but I feel that the character lacked something.
A film that addresses a global problem, the entry into the criminal world of children who should have better options in society. It's a shame that the story is so far below other similar films.
My Rankin: 2.6/5
Trailer
