A masterpiece. If you care at all for the greatest art form in the history of civilization, then see one of its avatars, director Martin Scorsese, at his peak.
The Irishman
Grade: A
Director: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Screenplay: Steven Zallman (Gangs of New York) from Charles Brandt book
Cast: Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver), Al Pacino (The Godfather)
Rating: R
Runtime: 3h 29m
By: John DeSando
“Would you like to be a part of this, Frank? Would you like to be a part of this history?” Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino)
Every bit of praise you’ve heard about Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is true and too often understated considering its epic and historical grandeur. It is essential Scorsese with organized crime powerplays buttressed by ice-cold inevitability that will make you think that since mid-20th century crime and politics have changed little.
When orders come from on high (spoiler alert but not necessarily historically accurate), Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) must kill Teamster patriarch Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), regardless of how long Frank has been his protector and close friend. That’s the way it is and the price to pay for otherwise comfortable living with rocky rules that destroy organizations and families.
Lest this description sound like a B movie story, rest assured the director and his gifted actors immerse you in the daily world of small-time crime and families trying to believe that this is a good life. When Pacino and De Niro are in a scene together, the reality of love and lurking violence is palpable.
They become our family, with a tragic inevitability that reminds us actions have consequences. Just the suggestion that this mob may have participated in the death of JFK is chilling enough and a hint that nothing these operatives do remains just in the family. The thirty or so years of Hoffa and fiends/enemies mirror the conflicted 20th century of war and peace.
The vicissitudes small and large of the crime family reflect the vagaries of plain old living for all humans: good and bad cohabit while loving relatives and friends have multiple sides that can turn like a two-headed snake into a killing machine. The 3 ½ hour epic makes certain that the audience will linger with the principals until we also think nothing too bad can happen to such caring, charismatic people.
The screening time, harder on theater audiences than Netflix customers who can turn it off and on, is an important part of involving the audience. Could Scorsese have cut it to 3 hours—yes—but there are few who would have demanded he do so. Such is the privilege of one of the world’s leading directors.
Is De Niro also a world-class actor—yes—the camera rarely leaves him while he portrays a man who never questions his role as a truck driver who morphs into a family and hit man. The rest of the cast is just as endearingly creepy with, for example, Joe Pesci surprisingly nuanced as a crime boss Russell Buffalino. It’s an embarrassment of riches that still makes you cry over how little the editing left Harvey Keitel to do.
For those of us who value film as the most powerful art form in the history of civilization, The Irishman and its director with the cast of talented actors must be experienced, the challenging length be damned.
“Whatever you need me to do, I'm available.” Frank Sheeran
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
