Nicola is only 15 years old, and that is evident when he burns off his big smile. One that can light up an entire room. But Nicola is more dangerous than he looks. In a short time he and his moped gang of teenage boys manage to become taller and soldiers for the local mafia in Naples.
It leads to great success, the children live in a fantasy world of cocaine and VIP treatment but nothing good lasts forever and soon a war is blazing up the streets.
Teenage is the time when men's egos are like crazy. Therefore, it is easy to understand the mechanisms behind Nicola and his friends' careless behavior. They want to meet girls but are not admitted to the disco which sows a seed of bitterness. A fetishism for designer clothes and expensive watches has taken root early in their culture where everything is about status.
Above all, Nicola seems to dream of helping her mother whose dry cleaning is constantly being squeezed for money in humiliating circumstances.
Francesco di Napoli, who plays the lead role, is impressive in her shifts between kind-hearted sincerity and ruthless violence. Sometimes he looks really childish, but when he says "I have no choice" and grabs an AK47 I believe in him.
Gomorrah writer Roberto Saviano has since lived his life under constant death threats from the Neapolitan Mafia and at the same time has become a kind of literary rock star. Both hailed as "Rome's Salman Rushdie" for his cultural influence, and accused of plagiarism in the cocaine report ZeroZeroZero.
The novel Camorran's children is his first fiction, and this filmization is as poignant as it was based on real events. Probably even more so, because fiction gives access to rooms we know exist but are not ever accessed. After all, it's clear that Saviano understands the world he depicts.
The Mafia's child soldiers also do not behave as their father figures tell them, but act more like lost children without any adult putting their feet down.
Weapons, powders and designer clothes are like toys. Their perception of reality is rooted in naivety rather than sadistic cynicism.
Director Claudio Giovannesi (who also directed the series version of Gomorra) manages the material with craftsmanship. Nothing exaggerated but he sets a pace that doesn't make it boring. With a special kind of mobility in the photo, he also captures the juvenile energy that seems to constantly move at high speed on the moped through Naples lanes.