People are voting emotionally.

Load of rubbish!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This is another gangster film where there isn't all the action of the traditional entry in the genre. If Goodfellas is Saving Private Ryan, then Black Souls is more in the vein of The Thin Red Line, not the same caliber as that film but you get my drift. This is much more of a character study of the players involved. The eldest of a trio of brothers has spent decades tending to his farm and staying out of the family business, which is for the most part unnamed shady stuff. But when his son goes to visit his goon of a brother with intentions of joining the dark side, a sequence of events fall in place resulting in a finish that I don't think anyone can see coming.Not a lot happens in the first 2/3s of Black Souls in an action sense, and if I was in the wrong mood I might not have liked this as much as I did. But I thought the conflict between the four chief characters (the dad, his two gangster brothers, and his son) was established very convincingly. Come with patience to this one and you will be well rewarded. One of the scenes near the finish is simply magnificent.

This is a Mafia film with a difference, one with spiritual/metaphysical dimensions (an unusual take on the subject matter as said by others). 'The Godfather' also shows how Michael Corleone is corrupted. I preferred 'Black Souls' to another 'art-house' exploration of the Mafia, 'Gomorrah': which was also about the Mafia as a business, the business of death & its noxious influence on society. 'Black Souls' is more intimate, as it revolves around one family, three very different brothers in personality, & how it self-destructs.I did find the settings initially confusing, it moves from metropolitan Milan (modern Italy) to the countryside, to an older peasant Italy with codes rooted in the hills & countryside, actually the South (I thought it was the north still at first). A place almost medieval in tone & customs, like clans brokering marriages to cement alliances or heal feuds.The film is about families & business, how sentiment & business should operate separately but are fatally bound; about Christian (Catholic) faith & despair (One of the brothers is called Luciano -light, the one not involved with the Mafia). The opening scene, a drugs deal involving the two brothers still involved in criminality (The charming, masculine Luigi, the bespectacled taciturn Rocco) sets the tone for the film. In flashy Milan, they negotiate a drugs deal with a new business partner, who has clearly eliminated their previous supplier. The brothers are unsentimental & accept the new arrangement as businessmen. Ironically, as the film progresses, the brothers become marginalised themselves by fellow village families who act out of the very same self-interest after they fail to apologise to the local Godfather. 'Black Souls' is about a family on the brink of self-destruction due to a family grudge being resumed. Emotions take precedence over reason. Luciano has borne the murder of his father by continuing to live & work in the community ruled by the Godfather who had him murdered. An act of vandalism & disrespect re-opens old wounds which escalate into forces beyond the family's & Luciano's control.The title of the film, for me, refers to a Mass which happens towards the end of this gripping film. It appears to suggest that 'you are born a sinner', but one is damned if you are born into a Mafia family because you will belong to its inescapable vendettas & blood feuds.Luciano, perhaps the most sympathetic character in the film, is drawn against his will & by his son's recklessness into his own personal hell. 'Black Souls', meaning men who are damned, condemned from birth by a diabolic bargain. There are some great scenes in this film which probably illuminate the themes of the book. Such as when the charismatic brother lies with his lap-dancer girlfriend in bed. She is naked, her lithe body covered in ink (tattooed characters). It is as if Luigi has made a literal contract with the Devil/bargain with criminality in exchange for his soul/life.It's a rich film, memorable. It's also about the clash of the modern with the traditional, the city & the countryside, as portrayed by Rocco & his wife, Valeria, an outsider, who struggles to understand the men's local dialect &, by suggestion, the situation in which she finds herself. It is about men & women: as with any film about violence & its shocking aftermath, it is the women - mothers, sisters, wives, who must mourn.The ending shocks & resonates, of a man driven by grief & rage, to commit the only act he thinks can stop the never ending cycle of violence. His is a soul in torment.

BLACK SOULS is an unusual Italian gangster film that portrays the subject matter in an art-house style. Thus, it's a slow and sedate movie with exemplary realism throughout that goes for a very low key approach. It feels like very little happens in this film, yet at the same time the production has the same kind of realism as a documentary.It's certainly a well-shot piece with some fine cinematography. The acting is of a solid standard with the actors giving mannered and restrained performances rather than going over the top as in an American gangster movie. The plot, about innocent lives being drawn into the criminal underworld, is a familiar one, but the slow-burning approach works well and builds up some powerhouse moments.

But not the mafia movie I expected.Seems to take the concept of the Sopranos one step further (or rather a step down) It's a very nonviolent (for a gangster movie), and far more blue collar than Goodfellas isMakes the whole organization feel more grounded.I wonder if that's just the difference between the Italians and the Italian-Americans.Well-acted. I really like the performance from the guy playing Luciano, the dad trying to keep his son away from the path his brother is on. A hard sell cause Luciano's brother's got all the cool stuff and treats his nephew like a man. Must admit the story seems hard to follow. It's in Italian and the subtitles did not help. Plus the movie moves slower than expected.Overall, it's one of those films that pays off with a small emotional climb up as you get to know that characters and how they live capped off with a roller coaster ride that's very fulfilling.Recommend