Scarface and Gomorrah

Scarface is a gangster film (1932) directed by Howard Hawks, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht and others. The 1983 remake was directed by Brian de Palma and had a screenplay by Oliver Stone. The name of the eponymous anti-hero is Tony Camonte (played by Paul Muni) in the 1932 version; in the 1983 version he is called Tony Montana (played by Al Pacino). The character is based on the real-life gangster Al Capone (1899-1947), who acquired the nickname Scarface from the scar on his left cheek caused by a razor slash in a Brooklyn gang fight in his younger days. (Monette, 78)

Gomorrah (2008) is an Italian movie based on the book by Roberto Saviano and directed by Matteo Garrone. Gomorrah is tough, edgy and necessarily violent, but in a riposte to many Hollywood gangster movies (the references to Scarfaceare pointed) Garrone firmly eschews any glamorising or romanticising of the criminals, and he vividly captures the desperation and degradation of their victims. (Ming, 15-30)

Peppered with Neapolitan pop songs, Gomorrah pulsates with energy as it graphically depicts an amoral environment awash with money, where life is cheap or worthless. A dramatic Massive Attack instrumental kicks in on the soundtrack as the closing credits roll with unsettling details of how the Camorra continue to get away with it, at home and abroad. Protection rackets and daylight robberies and killings are so commonplace that the local people exist in a climate of fear. And the Camorra's vast illegal earnings are reinvested in legitimate business across the globe.

The one thing that dates the movie is the Giorgio Moroder score. In 1983, no one noticed it, because Moroder's scores were everywhere. That was just how every other movie sounded. Today the score places "Scarface" in a specific era, though not in bad way - in a way more classic than confining.

People talk about the leadership lessons in "The Godfather," but "Scarface" has plenty of its own. (1) Don't be distracted. His friend is a ladies' man, but Tony says that in the U.S. you have to make money first, then acquire power, and then you get the women. He stays focused on his goal; (2) Courage is crucial. Or as Tony says, "The only thing in this world that gives orders is balls." He takes risks in his first meeting with a mid-level gangster (F. Murray Abraham) and takes risks in ...