Film Review: The Ruthless (Lo spietato, 2019)

Italian filmmakers, due to specific geographical, economic and political circumstances, can enjoy the fact that both recent and distant history provides them with a rich source of material for works in the gangster genre. This particularly includes the period of the so-called First Republic, when, under the multi-decade rule of the Christian Democratic Party, the boundary between politics, economics and organised crime was often blurred, and life on the wrong side of the law created a series of dramatic events and colourful biographies. One such example is provided by Milanese gangster Saverio Morabito, whose testimonies formed the basis for a book that would serve as the template for The Ruthless, a 2019 biographical film directed by Renato de Maria.

Morabito's alter ego, who serves as the film's protagonist and narrator, is the Milanese gangster Santo Russo (Riccardo Scamarcio). The plot begins when 15-year-old Santo is growing up in Milan, where his family had moved from impoverished Calabria in search of a new life. Santo's father, however, had additional reasons for coming, having once been a member of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the mafia, from which he had been expelled. Young Santo initially has no intention of getting involved in crime, but on New Year's Eve 1968 he is arrested and accused of a theft he did not commit, and his father, trying to teach him a lesson, refuses to help him. Santo ends up in a reform school where he will be exposed to abuse, but also gain a loyal friend in Mario Bambieri (Alessandro Tedeschi), and after several years acquire enough skills to begin a career as a hardened criminal upon his release.

Santo and Mario engage in robberies, kidnappings, extortion and other crimes, and are successful in doing so, catching the attention of leading figures of the Milanese 'Ndrangheta who enlist them for their dirty work. Santo marries a once-unremarkable Calabrian woman, Mariangela (Sara Serraiocco), with whom he will start a traditional family, but he continues with his business which, especially when heroin trafficking enters the picture, brings him more and more money. The need to spend it connects him with the French artist Annabelle (Jasmine Trinca), with whom, despite differences in education, character and worldview, he will develop a romantic relationship. His friend Mario, however, cannot handle the success, turns to heroin and makes a mistake that in 1990 will have catastrophic consequences for Santo, and ultimately for his patrons.

Renato de Maria is an author who knows the subject matter quite well, which includes both the Italian criminal milieu, which he dealt with in his 2015 documentary Italian Gangsters, and the classics of the gangster genre. This refers mostly to Scorsese's Goodfellas, from which he has largely "borrowed" the narrative structure, general atmosphere and mix of explicit violence, ironic commentary, nostalgia for a world gone decades ago, and black humour. The Ruthless does not break new ground, and, similar to Scorsese's work, the main character is portrayed as a thoroughly unsympathetic person who shows little remorse for all he has done. The attempt to spice all this up with elements of Catholic guilt ends rather clumsily, and mostly boils down to exploitative content, such as Santo's erotic fantasies about nuns or Mariangela's mental distress which transforms into religious fanaticism.

Certain scenes, especially towards the end, are drawn-out and predictable, and some of them, particularly those in which de Maria insists on humour, are so surreal that they seem to have strayed into this gangster-biopic from a Monty Python sketch. One of the film's shortcomings is the uneven quality of the cast. Scamarcio, known to Hollywood audiences for his role as a mafia boss in John Wick: Chapter 2, as well as for his first notable appearance in the thematically and stylistically related gangster film Romanzo Criminale (2005), is very good and, through a combination of charisma and "cheeky" humour, convincingly portrays a type who in most other films would be the villain. Serraiocco is far less successful as his wife, and even more unfortunate is the case with Trinca, who suffers from a lack of "chemistry" with Scamarcio.

On the other hand, The Ruthless, although it will not bring anything particularly new to most fans of the gangster-biopic genre, represents a largely satisfying way to spend just under two hours of free time in front of the screen.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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