Hidden Crime Show Gem on Netflix Sitting on Rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Summary

• Alessandro Borghi is a well-known Italian actor who frequently appears on Netflix.
• He's currently known for the recently released Supersex, but 2017 saw the release of another intriguing series starring him.
• This is a well-written crime drama based in part on real events in Rome.

For the film and television industry, streaming services are highly problematic, raising many questions about their business models (which in part became one of the reasons for last year's WGA and SAG-AFTRA), their approach to content distribution, and the growing financial burden on households as more independent (or subsidiary) platforms proliferate each year. And yet, one thing is undeniable: streaming has introduced American audiences (and audiences in other countries) to many exciting foreign or international projects that would otherwise have been unknown.

Netflix in particular can boast of this contribution: need we even talk about the hype generated by, say, South Korea's Squid Game? The international Netflix has also given us, for example, the excellent German sci-fi thriller Dark, the Spanish Money Heist and Elite, the French Lupin, and Japan, in addition to the live-action hit Alice in Borderland, continues to supply many instantly popular animated films and TV series.

However, there are also those foreign projects that, despite high critical acclaim, are almost forgotten over time. Nevertheless, the actors involved in these projects continue to appear on Netflix, bringing back the popularity of their former roles. For example, an Italian series starring Alessandro Borghi, now known on Netflix for the movie Supersex, has resurfaced. The show is an excellent crime thriller that exposes the seedy underworld of Rome. The show is especially worth watching as it has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

What Is This Series with Alessandro Borghi About?

Now Alessandro Borghi has gained not a little hype in the world of pop culture: On March 6, Netflix released the biographical drama Supersex, in which the actor played the role of famous porn actor Rocco Siffredi. Before that, however, Borghi had already had experience with Netflix.

We're talking about Suburra: Blood on Rome, which aired on Netflix from 2017 to 2020 and ran for three seasons. It was the first original Italian-language project for the streaming service, but two years earlier, the feature film Suburra, directed by Stefano Sollima, was released with the help of Netflix funding. Based on the novel of the same name by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo, Suburra dealt with the corrupt and criminal activities of the Roman authorities, following the administration's close ties with the Mafia and right-wing terrorists, whose multi-year investigation was called the Mafia Capitale investigation.

Alessandro Borghi had a supporting role in the film, playing a thug hired by Italian deputy Filippo Malgradi (played by Pierfrancesco Favino). The series, on the other hand, is both a partial prequel to the movie and a complete reimagining of it: it takes place in the same neighborhood, Rome's Ostia, and focuses on Borghi's character as he tries to stand up to the Sicilian Mafia. The other two main characters are Spadino (Giacomo Ferrara), a gypsy gang member and closeted homosexual, and Lele (Eduardo Valdarnini), the son of a police officer manipulated by the mafia.

This Crime Drama Is Beloved by Critics

Despite the fact that Italian television has a rather niche status for global audiences, Suburra: Blood on Rome has gained some popularity, and Netflix even released an 8-episode miniseries sequel Suburræterna last year, on November 14, 2023, this time following the story of Spadino. All in all, despite its not-so-mainstream status, Suburra is still a decent show in the crime drama genre.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' score for the first season was a perfect 100%. While there aren't many reviews from professional critics, every single one of them has come to love it, thanks to a fascinating script that delves, in almost Shakespearean fashion, into the gritty reality of a criminal underworld closely linked to corrupt officials hiding behind the beautiful veneer of Rome's Renaissance architecture.