Rating of
3/4
Fact based docudrama about Mafia crackdown.
Indyfreak - wrote on 06/30/20
True life crime drama of a mobster (Favino) who became the first informant on the Sicilian Mafia back in the 1980s.
Pierfrancesco Favino is very good in the lead role as Tommaso Buscetta, a proud but pragmatic individual who is slowly disillusioned with his criminal surroundings after they start targeting his own family. Characters come and go throughout the film's lengthy two-and-a-half hour running time, but Favino remains the center of the story. His friendship with a crusading judge is touching and Favino has some nice quiet moments with Maria Fernanda Candido who plays Buscetta's wife.
It is less a shoot-em-up action thriller and much more of a mood piece. The film directly examines the body count left by gang warfare (even using a tally onscreen for each murder) and the emotional toil it takes on those willing to turn informant. The cinematography is very good, and gives the movie almost a documentary feel. It has a lot of good smaller moments and one very satisfying "take that" scene that makes us root for Favino while making us laugh at the media circus that is Italian politics and law enforcement.
It's certainly good but it never quite makes it to the 'must see' classic status that it is aiming for.
