ARTE, CULTURA & SPETTACOLO
Suburra: Blood on Rome
TV Series review
Caution: spoilers for first episode
With Netflix’s first Italian original series comes a Roman answer to Gomorrah, the hugely popular and well-received Neapolitan, Camorra-based series that has gained a cult following in the UK. Suburra: Blood on Rome, like Gomorrah, is based on a film (in turn based on a book), however Suburra serves as a prequel to its film-counterpart, tracing the events leading up to those of the film.
There are two main strands to the narrative of the series: the acquisition of a piece of beachside land in Ostia, in which many players are involved, and the blackmail of a Vatican Monsignor by two hapless thugs and a petty drug dealer, each hoping to make some cash for respective personal reasons. These storylines often overlap and interconnect, making the first couple of episodes slightly difficult to get to grips with. The first hour-long episode opens with a striking shot of St Peter’s Basilica, zooming out to reveal the abandoned streets below. We then follow the Monsignor Theodosiou as he leaves the Vatican and are suddenly thrust into an explicit cocaine-fuelled orgy, where the Monsignor is filmed by a prostitute. Unfortunately for him, three strangers, each from a different fragment of Rome’s seedy underworld, get their hands on the video, propelling them onto a path of further crime and destruction.
In Suburra, politicians, organised crime groups, and the Catholic Church all coincide within the city of Rome, itself featured throughout the series (albeit not overtly so). Meetings on the Spanish Steps and overhead shots of the Vatican City occasionally remind us where we are, and where we are is in the not so innocent eternal city. We see that corruption is widespread and almost unquestioned within the political sphere, as we follow one politician (Filippo Nigro) as he battles with his consciousness over whether to concede to the demands of the powerful and shady mafioso Samurai (Francesco Acquaroli). Sara (Claudia Gerini), the Vatican’s financial advisor, has alliances all over the place, making her job of selling the Ostia land to the highest bidder a difficult one. The heart of the series, however, lies in the relationship (and at times, friendship) that forms between the three younger characters involved in the blackmail. Aureliano (Alessandro Borghi), Spadino (Giacomo Ferrara) and Lele (Eduardo Valdarnini), three characters from very different backgrounds and with very different personalities, manage to bond whilst they figure their way through a situation in which they are way over their heads.