Umberto Curi and Mario Pezzella on Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah Not Against, but Beyond the State Umberto Curi “The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and ire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. [...] And Abraham gat up early in the morn- ing to the place where he stood before the Lord: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace” (Gen., 19, 23-28). In the Biblical account, God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah appears almost out of the blue, with practically nothing having been said about the two cities previously. We know only (Gen. 13, 11-12) that, upon their return from Egypt, “Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan” while Lot settled in the cities of the plain of Jordan and “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” We know also – indeed, this is the most important detail – that “the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (Gen. 13, 13). The exemplary punishment inlicted upon the cities of the plain of Jordan is also the occasion for a singular controversy between God and Abraham, a sort of logico- legal dispute, which seems to prelude Job’s debate with the Lord later in the Biblical narrative. Just after foretelling the birth of the son so long awaited and desired to him who will be considered the father of faith and to his wife Sarah, God reveals to Abraham his intention to punish the inhabitants of the cities, “because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous” (Gen. 18, 20). While aware of his nothingness (“I am but dust and ashes”), Abraham pleads for the salvation of the cities, raising the possibility that in them, among the multitude of the wicked, there may nevertheless be a minority (50, 45, 40 ... 10) of righteous men. Surprisingly, in the end the dialogue is left hanging. There is only a pledge by the Lord – “I will not destroy the city for ten’s sake” (Gen., 18, 32) – after which they simply take their leave: “And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left com- muning with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place” (Gen. 18, 33). Hence, convinced by his interlocutor, God will not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he inds even just ten righteous men in the cities. To avoid wronging an ininitesimal minority of the righteous, he will spare a legion of the wicked their just punishment. Iris, ISSN 2036-3257, I, 1 April 2009, p. 241-249 © Firenze University Press