‘In 1978, the US government waged a war against organized crime. One man was left behind the lines.’

Directed by:
Mike Newell

Written by:
Joseph D. Pistone (book ‘Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia’)
Richard Woodley (book ‘Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia’)
Paul Attanasio (screenplay)

Cast:
Johnny Depp (Donnie Brasco / Joseph D. Pistone), Al Pacino (Benjamin ‘Lefty Two-guns’ Ruggiero), Michael Madsen (Sonny Black), Bruno Kirby (Nicky), Anne Heche (Maggie Pistone), James Russo (Paulie), Zeljko Ivanek (Tim Curley), Gerry Becker (Dean Blandford), Robert Miano (Sonny Red), Brian Tarantina (Bruno)

The imposing but low-ranking mobster Lefty (Pacino) meets Don the Jeweller (Depp). Donnie’s connections check out, so Lefty takes him in as a friend and associate. It turns out to be a mistake of historical proportions. Donnie is really an undercover FBI-agent named Joe Pistone, whose mission is to infiltrate the Mafia.

This movie is based on a true story. Joe Pistone managed to infiltrate a fraction of the New York Bonanno family in the late seventies and wrote a book about his experiences. The happenings in the book have been somewhat altered to create a more tense mob thriller. A choice that has turned out well. There are certainly moments of great tension, such as the scene where Donnie has to take his boots off in a Japanese restaurant in which he has hidden a microphone. Or the jail scene in which Donnie’s pals are discussing the way ‘the rat’ should be murdered when discovered.

The acting in this film is especially well performed. It is truly amazing how much sympathy Pacino arouses as the hapless mobster Lefty. We know he’s a cold-blooded killer (26 hits under his belt), but we almost cry for him when we see his desperate schemes tragically fail. Depp certainly holds his ground as Pacino’s partner in crime. It’s intriguing to see how he becomes more and more like a wiseguy, which is especially apparent when he acts alpha male around his wife and threatens a fellow undercover agent.

The film moves with great speed. In reality it took Donnie years to come close to the crew of Sonny Black (Madsen), but in the film this is done within two scenes. Some things have been dramatised such as Donnie’s relation with his wife Maggie (Heche), who understandably can’t deal with her husband’s absence. Also the ending in which Lefty is sent for (to get whacked), is done to dramatise the movie. In reality it was Sonny Black who got killed when Donnie’s identity was discovered. Mind you, these are only observations. All film making choices are well justified and every scene altered from reality gets the impact that it is aiming for.

The art-direction is another achievement that deserves mention. The New York scenery looks great, as well as all the terrible outfits that the wiseguys dress in. Altogether, Donnie Brasco is a remarkable movie that lost none of its impact over the years. It’s certainly not easy to just fuhgetaboutit.

Rating:

Quote:
LEFTY: “Sit down there. You were gonna walk out on me? You don’t walk out on me. I walk out on you.”

Trivia:
The newspaper picture of the murdered boss is the famous picture of murdered mob boss Carmine Galente, who was killed in a Brooklyn restaurant in 1979.