Suburra

Suburra

Year: 2015

Runtime: 130 mins

Language: Italian

Director: Stefano Sollima

DramaThrillerCrimeCrime

A ruthless gangster, known as "Samurai," aims to transform Rome's waterfront into a sprawling entertainment complex resembling Las Vegas. To achieve this ambitious goal, he unites the city's various mob bosses, forging a fragile alliance. However, their uneasy peace is quickly threatened as conflicting interests and power struggles emerge, jeopardizing the entire operation and plunging Rome into chaos.

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Timeline & Setting – Suburra (2015)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Suburra (2015). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

November 2011

The events occur in the immediate aftermath of Italy's financial crisis, within a tense political atmosphere. A controversial bill and shifting alliances drive the narrative through a single volatile month. The period is marked by public scandals, investigations, and the entanglement of crime with high-level decision-making.

Location

Ostia, Rome

The story unfolds mainly in Ostia and the surrounding Rome area, a coastline locale where development schemes collide with crime. The setting blends luxury, secrecy, and backroom deals that fuel the plot. It highlights how a real estate push can become a battleground for power, money, and influence.

🏙️ Urban crime 🗺️ Italian politics

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 07:50

Main Characters – Suburra (2015)

Meet the key characters of Suburra (2015), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Filippo Malgradi (Pierfrancesco Favino)

An ambitious Italian MP who pushes a bill to reclassify territories to enable the Ostia project. He engages in sex with prostitutes and uses favors to stay ahead, drawing him into dangerous alliances with criminal figures. His actions set off a chain of betrayals that illuminate how politics and crime feed each other.

🏛️ Power 💰 Corruption

Spadino Anacleti (Giacomo Ferrara)

A young member of the Romani crime family who enforces the Anacleti's grip on the Ostia area. He uses blackmail and violence to secure deals for his brother Manfredi and his allies, tightening the coil around Malgradi. His ruthlessness ultimately leads to his murder by 8-Ball.

🧿 Crime 🗝️ Loyalty

Manfredi Anacleti (Adamo Dionisi)

Patriarch of the Anacleti clan and a ruthless loan shark who wields debt and fear to control property and people. He drives the conflict with Malgradi and Sebastiano, reacting with violence when his interests are challenged. His strategies reveal how familial loyalty can become a weapon in large-scale schemes.

⚔️ Authority 🗡️ Violence

Numero 8 (Aureliano '8-Ball' Adami) (Alessandro Borghi)

A powerful local enforcer who controls the Ostia area and brokers drug and prostitution networks. He resists za alliances that threaten his profits and manipulates others to keep the real estate deal moving. His murder of Spadino triggers a brutal escalation of violence, and his own downfall comes at the hands of Samurai.

💊 Drugs 🗝️ Control

Sabrina (Giulia Elettra Gorietti)

A prostitute connected to Malgradi who becomes entangled in the secrets of the deal. She hides a murder and is forced to reveal crucial information, illustrating how individuals are drawn into the web of power through coercion and leverage. Her actions catalyze key plot revelations.

💄 Prostitution 🧭 Betrayal

Viola (Greta Scarano)

8-Ball's drug-addicted lover who seeks vengeance and becomes instrumental in the plot’s violent cycles. She orchestrates or participates in actions that destabilize the competing factions. Her arc culminates in a dramatic blow to Samurai, underscoring the personal costs of the power struggle.

🔥 Violence 💔 Betrayal

Samurai (Claudio Amendola)

A former neo-fascist turned professional criminal with deep ties to powerful financial institutions, including the Vatican Bank. He serves as an arbitrator between rival factions and uses leverage to maintain balance. His influence and willingness to eliminate threats keep the power dynamics volatile.

⚔️ Violence 🏛️ Influence

Sebastiano (Elio Germano)

A pimp who hosts secret parties for Italy's elite at his family mansion, Camouflaging the moral rot behind a glamorous facade. He becomes a pawn in the larger real estate scheme, pressured by Manfredi and Malgradi to relinquish property under duress. His arc tracks the intersection of wealth, sex, and power.

🎭 Secrecy 🏰 Wealth

Padre di Sebastiano (Antonello Fassari)

The father of Sebastiano, whose death looms as a consequence of the Anacleti debt-trap. Though not a central figure, his fate underscores the collateral damage of the criminal economy surrounding the Ostia project. His presence underscores the film’s theme of family and duty under pressure.

🙏 Faith 👨‍👦 Family

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 07:50

Major Themes – Suburra (2015)

Explore the central themes of Suburra (2015), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🏛️ Power and Politics

A political bill becomes a tool for leverage as criminals, politicians, and financiers converge around Ostia. The story shows how power is negotiated through favors, blackmail, and side deals that benefit the wealthiest players. The centralized political machinery is depicted as both essential to progress and susceptible to corruption.

🕷️ Criminal Networks

The Anacleti family, Samurai, and their entourages reveal a web of loyalties that cross borders between debt collection, drug trafficking, and real estate speculation. Alliances shift as threats and violence are used to settle scores and secure profits. The network's reach extends into legitimate institutions, complicating justice.

🔥 Violence and Betrayal

Murder, coercion, and betrayals escalate as the real estate deal spirals out of control. Spadino is murdered, 8-Ball retaliates with more killings, and Samurai eliminates rivals to maintain balance. Personal betrayals collide with public ambition, culminating in sudden, brutal acts that redefine loyalties.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 07:50

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Bleak underworld power struggles like in Suburra

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Narrative Summary

Narratives typically follow multiple factions—politicians, mobsters, law enforcement—as their conflicting ambitions intertwine. A central goal, like a lucrative deal or a power vacuum, initially unites them, but this alliance quickly fractures under the weight of greed and paranoia, leading to a cascade of betrayals and a conclusion that offers no redemption.

Why These Movies?

They are grouped by their shared focus on the corrosive nature of power within a closed system, a fast-paced narrative of shifting loyalties, and a consistently dark, tense, and cynical tone that culminates in a hopeless ending.

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Cinematic journeys into the violent, inevitable decay of criminal empires.For fans of Suburra's gritty realism and heavy emotional weight, this collection gathers similar movies about the downfall of crime empires. Discover other complex thrillers with fast pacing, high violence, and a dark, tense mood that explores themes of ambition and betrayal.

grittybrutaltenseanxiouscorruptoppressiveviolentcynical

Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern involves a meticulously built criminal enterprise or ambitious project that begins to crumble due to internal rivalries and external pressures. The story arc is a downward spiral, focusing on the point-of-no-return moments where characters make fatal choices, leading to a climax of violence and the total dissolution of order.

Why These Movies?

These films share a specific vibe: a combination of high intensity, complex plotting, a dark and gritty tone, and a heavy emotional weight derived from witnessing moral collapse. The pacing is typically fast, reflecting the chaotic nature of the world being portrayed.

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Suburra Summary

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Suburra Timeline

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Suburra Timeline

Suburra Spoiler-Free Summary

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Suburra Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Suburra

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