Donnie Brasco

Now we get to a 1997 movie that is based on a true story, “Donnie Brasco.” Roger Ebert started his review by saying, “Norman Mailer told us tough guys don't dance, but in the movies, it's mostly tough guys who do dance.” We’re so doubtful of close emotional relationship between men that the movies are only comfortable showing them if the guys are cops, jocks, soldiers or mobsters. Underneath all of that, “Donnie Brasco” is the story of two men who learn to love one another, within the structure of a teacher-student relationship. It’s not about love, it’s about need.

The movie opens in New York coffee shop that’s a regular place for the gang. A young man named Donnie (Johnny Depp) comes in and talks disrespectfully to an older man named Lefty (Al Pacino). Lefty can’t believe what he just heard: “You're calling me a dumbski? You know who you're talkin' to? Lefty from Mulberry Street!” If what he said actually means anything.

However, this actually means a lot to Donnie Brasco, whose real name is Joe Pistone, and who is an undercover agent for the FBI. He eventually earns Lefty’s trust, and it becomes clear that Lefty desperately needs someone to trust. He has cancer, his son is a junkie, and his mob career is not excelling. Donnie is a good looking boy who is an excellent listener, and Lefty is in dire need to be a mentor. Ebert comments, “In another world, he would have been your favorite high school teacher.”

“If I say you’re a friend of mine, that means you’re connected,” Lefty explains to Donnie. “If I say you’re a friend of ours, that means you’re a made guy. If I introduce you, I’m responsible for you. Anything wrong with you, I go down.” The movie is based on a 1978 book inspired by the real “Donnie Brasco” case (its author is still alive in the government witness program). The story plays like a friend to “GoodFellas,” with the same tradition, the same violent Mafia code, the same wavering between sudden violence and strange comedy. (At one point, Lefty is called to a meeting with his boss and expects to be murdered. Instead, he’s given a present - a lion, because he likes to watch wild animals on videos.) Ebert said in his review, “he British director Mike Newell, whose biggest hit was "Four Weddings And A Funeral" might seem like a strange choice for this material, but he's the right one, because the movie is not really about violence or action, it's about friendship.” We can see right away why Lefty is drawn to Donnie, but it takes a little longer to see why Donnie begins to like Lefty. After all, a guy risks his life because he trusts you. You can’t help feeling like a rat if you’re double-crossing him.

Michael Madsen plays the boss Lefty reports to. He’s tall, tough, harsh – a scared too, because when he gets taken up a notch, the job includes a $50,000 monthly payment to the guy above him. A lot of the time these guys spend hanging around their social club, playing cards and complaining that business is bad. In the movie, Mafia guys don’t get away with anything: With them, it’s work, work, work, just like how it is with everyone you see.

Donnie has some ideas for them, which includes a club in Florida that he thinks might make them some money. But opening night there is a mishap, and although they believe there is a betrayer with them, what they do not suspect is that an opponent mob section was responsible. Ebert mentioned, “Every time I see a Mafia movie, I wonder how any Mafiosi can still be alive, given the rate of sudden, violent attrition and the willingness to shoot first and find out the rest of the facts later.”

The Florida project and the other jobs are a setting for the relationship between Donnie and Lefty, which is complicated because the FBI agent has a wife (Anne Heche) and kids (Delanie Fitzpatrick and Katie Sagona) hidden away in the suburbs, who go for weeks at a time without seeing him. He can’t even tell them what he does (nor would they believe him). “I pretend I’m a widow,” his wife tells him.

Eventually all of the pieces, personal and criminal, come down at one moment when Lefty will either will or will not act on what he knows, or thinks he knows. As the two men face their moment of truth, we are reminded what great acting the movie contains. We expect it from Pacino, who is on ground he knows well, and is sad and gentle as a man who is “just a spoke in the wheel,” a loyal soldier who lives and dies by the rules. For Johnny Depp, “Donnie Brasco” breaks new ground. He looks a little older here, a little sleepier, and he makes the transition from betrayer to friend one faint step at a time.

The violence in this movie is horrible (a scene involving the removal of bodies is mostly graphic). However, the movie has many human qualities and contains what will be remembered as one of Pacino’s memorable scenes. At an important moment in his life, he puts some things in a drawer. He starts to leave, then thinks again, turns back and leaves the drawer partly open. What this implies and how it plays creates the perfect ending for the film, which fades to black – only to start up again with unnecessary footnotes. Doesn’t matter, it’s still a great scene.

Another thing that made this film memorable is the quote, “Forget about it.” This is another amazing Mafia movie, which is also another one of my favorites. Definitely see this movie if you haven’t because you will love it, I promise you.

Stay tuned Wednesday to see what will be the next entry in “Al Pacino Month.”