Penned by the magistrate and author of the classic ROMANZO CRIMINALE gangster saga and another leading Italian crime writer, SUBURRA is a splendid portrait of the corruption that took hold of the Roman region during the Berlusconi years as mafia, politicians and local hoods all dipped their fingers into the kitty created by a dubious building boom and fought to the death over their respective patches and a share of the loot. It’s no surprise this will soon be a TV mini-series in view of the colourful nature of the setting (a working class district of the Italian capital) and the richly drawn characters on both sides of the good and evil axis, although very few turn out innocent and come in shades of darker and darkest grey, make a mark on the imnagination The years of Italy’s social and political turmoil prove an inexhaustible landmap for rewarding narratives which only fiction can capture the nuances of. Epic, dark and sadly enlightening. I’ll be in line to watch the series when it comes to our screens.
