Italian cinema is in luck because three films from this country can be considered the best that passed through our theaters last year: Gomorrah, Il Divo y Criminale Romance.
I do not know if by chance but all three are about corruption and the world of the Italian mafia at levels very close to the masterpiece The Godfather.
Criminale Romance It is a production from 2005 but it was not released in our country until the end of last year.
Criminale Romance He tells us the following story in a dizzying way and, although the film lasts 147 minutes, it does not leave the viewer time for boredom:
Rome, 60s. Three young criminals, Lebanese, Hielo and Dandy, with the help of an improvised gang of other criminals, including El Negro, an extremist who thinks he is the last samurai, kidnap and brutally murder a wealthy owner. With the ransom money in their hands, they decide to invest, together, in the heroin business. This is how a clever and ruthless organization is born that crushes all its rivals, assumes total control of the drug trade, imposes brutal criminal laws in Rome, aligns itself with the Mafia and at the same time benefits from the protection of all those faceless men. to whom the government assigns its dirty work. Meanwhile, the authorities are locked in the fight against national terrorism and underestimate the avalanche of violence and illicit money that is gripping Rome. The only one who senses the devastating power of these new gangsters is Captain Scialoja. To destroy them, Scialoja gets involved in a dangerous relationship with Patrizia, an intriguing prostitute who also turns out to be Dandy's girl. It is a relationship in which both are carried away far beyond their initial intentions.
Highlight from the film, the rise and fall of the three friends who, one by one, the director, tells us their story, together with that of the rest of the group. In addition, the film also reflects the permissiveness and use of the government of the mafia itself for its own interest as in real life.
It is not a masterpiece but it is quite a movie that I highly recommend.