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Donnie Brasco (1996)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
June 1st, 2008
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'Donnie Brasco' deals with the relationship between the title character and the man he comes to love and respect, Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), an aging, experienced hitman who is waiting to be rewarded for his decades of loyalty with something that will provide him with enough income to retire and buy that boat he has always wanted. But does one actually get to retire from the mafia? Lefty works for Sonny (Michael Madsen), a ruthless crime boss who has to worry about keeping his own head above water, and giving his superiors a big cut of his profits. Neither Sonny nor Lefty is extravagantly wealthy, as many gangsters seem to be. In fact, they both feel slighted and cheated; they work hard, almost constantly, on the lookout for new, especially lucrative operations. Donnie (Johnny Depp) is an FBI agent; his real name is Joseph Pistone. He has a family back in the suburbs; his wife Maggie (Anne Heche) has to pretend she is a widow, as he is gone for months at a time, and there is a distance developing between him and his daughters. Their marriage suffers, as his professional life starts to affect his personal one. He begins to talk like a mobster, and even participates in grisly crimes, like when he helps dismember bodies. He knows that when he is exposed, Lefty, who has vouched for him and trusts him, will be killed. This weighs heavily on his conscience. Lefty has cancer, and his son is a hopeless junkie, he is almost chronically broke, and so he asks Donnie for loans here and there, desperately wants to become his mentor, thinks of him as the son he should have had. There is a deep emotional bond between these men, and that forms the backbone of the story. But it also works as a top-notch crime drama, and also a thriller in those scenes where it looks like Donnie's cover is going to be blown, and he has to improvise quickly to avoid discovery.
There is quite a bit of violence, some of it particularly gruesome (like that body dismembering segment I mentioned earlier), and Paul Attanasio provides a brilliant, Oscar-nominated screenplay; what a joy it is hear Donnie and Lefty talk to one another, to hear all that mafia lingo, the expressions and the street wisdom that draw us so completely into this world; the dialogue drips with intimacy and authenticity. Pacino delivers a master-class performance, one of his best. Lefty is likable and sympathetic, even if he kills for a living. And what a tremendously versatile actor Depp is, this is one of his most captivating and memorable roles. Overall, great stuff.
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