A film about Teenage Gangsters in Naples

Perfect summer viewing

I have been a bit critical of some of the Mafia related television and films that I have watched or tried to watch recently, but I can recommend without hesitation Piranhas which is available on BBC Iplayer. The film is based on a book by the famous Roberto Saviano, originally called La Paranza dei Bambini; a paranza is a fishing boat, but it can also mean, in Neapolitan slang, a gang. The BBC describes the film as ‘In Italian and Neapolitan, with subtitles'. The latter are essential, as even for a practiced Italian-speaker, the Neapolitan accent is pretty indecipherable.

The film deals with the rise of a teenager called Nico who is fifteen, and who enters the world of the Camorra, along with his friends. The central role is taken by Francesco di Napoli, who is much older, but does look fifteen to me, and it is a pretty convincing performance, as are the other performances from the rest of the cast.

Naples is, of course, one of the most beautiful cities on earth, but this film skirts around that. We see one of the famous parts of Naples, the Galleria Umberto II, and a distant view of Vesuvius, but the rest of the film is shot in the dirty, rundown and claustrophobic streets of the Sanità district of the city. (And it really is Sanità, no doubt about that.) Sanità is beautiful, but its beauty is not on show in this film.

What the film does well is underline the youth of organised criminals in Naples and other mafia-ridden parts of Italy. Nico is only 15, and that is old enough to be a Camorrista. Neither he or his friends go to school or have a job. And why turn to crime? The main reason seems to be the desire for Rolex watches, glitzy furniture and designer gear. Never were there a bunch of criminals with less taste or more desire for the worthless things of life. Gangster chic makes the late Saddam Hussein’s palaces look like models of restrained good taste.

The young actors capture well the rank and corrupted nature of the Neapolitan underworld, indeed any underworld. Nico and his girlfriend are in a sort of way beautiful, but thin and undernourished, shabbily dressed in what are clearly expensive clothes, and all the teenagers seem to be in need of fresh air and a good holiday in the health giving countryside. Also convincing is the way they take to guns as children take to toys; but there is no tragedy here, only foolishness, and shallow desires. Incidentally, it seems to me that getting into the Camorra, as seen here, is a little too easy. (If you remember, Calogero di Rienzi had to try quite hard to get into the Mafia.)

But enough by way of spoilers, please do watch it for yourself. You won’t regret it!