Romanzo Criminale Season One
Directed by Stefano Sollima.
Starring Francesco Montanari, Vinicio Marchioni, Alessandro Roja, Marco Bocci, Andrea Sartoretti, and Daniela Virgilio.
SYNOPSIS:
Lebanese’s desire to become ‘King of Rome’ carries out to it’s inevitable conclusion in the Italian series semi-based on the criminal organization, Banda della Magliana.
Released for the first time in the US from Kino Lorber, Romanzo Criminale follows the Maglianas as they ascend from typewriter robbers in the 70’s to controlling criminals of Rome. It was supposed to be a one-off job. Lebanese (Montanari) and Freddo (Marchioni) joined batteries to kidnap a baron for ransom money. When the ransom was paid with marked bills their alliance got extended to murder and money laundering. Then the gang got involved in the drug trade and made more mistakes, and all these bumbles collided somewhere with success.
It’s the collaboration between Lebanese and Freddo that’s key. Technically running Magliana with Dandi (Roja) as a third partner, Dandi’s more than a spiffy dresser in love with a prostitute (Virgilio) but he’s not the partner Lebanese needs. Wont to give orders, Lebanese goes into meetings already convinced of how they’ll play out and his crew are getting shut out of important decisions. Freddo makes Lebanese see there’s a difference between allowing his pushers to have a say and giving an inch to the competition. Big players see recognition as a transfer of power. A backbone with them is an asset, but to men who would trust Lebanese with their money, democracy’s a matter of personal security, not power. If Lebanese wants to have his men stick around, they’re going to need some democratic good will.
What they clearly don’t need is Lebanese’s trust. One gang member buys a Porsche with marked bills after being told not to make any big purchases. Another hides a bag of guns under his girlfriend’s bed, knowing her protective dad wants to bar him from the house. The Maglianas’ rise in the drug trade owes a lot to idiotic error. Besides the mandatory cop who has it out for them (Bocci), no one would suspect they’d have longevity until it’s too late.
The Godfather avoids being referenced until episode eight and a late try at flashbacks in episode six should’ve been left to Godfather II but it’s about time Hollywood stepped aside from the mafia and let Italy tell its own gangster story. If you’ve seen a mob movie, and are aware there’s a second season, the season finale writes itself, but Romanzo Criminale knows there are only so many ways a mob story can end. The gangsters whose stories are told never get to have the same self-awareness.
Rachel Bellwoar
Originally published March 15, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
