From early 1970s onwards Francis Ford Coppola was often being accused of creating unrealistic and almost apologetic vision of Mafia in his Godfather films. World's most known criminal organisation was portrayed as the institution marked by tradition, loyalty, friendship, tight rules and glamorous lifestyle - all the things that average people on the street found lacking in their ordinary lives. In 1990s this myth was deconstructed by Goodfellas and its portrayal of Mafia on lower and more prosaic levels. Deconstruction was continued in Donnie Brasco, 1997 drama directed by Mike Newell.
Just like Goodfellas, this film is based on true story. In 1978 young New York jeweller Donnie Brasco (played by Johnny Depp) gets attention of "Lefty" Ruggiero (played by Al Pacino), low-level Mafia operative who decides to recruit young man into his crew. Brasco agrees and Ruggiero, who is burdened with age, illness and drug addict son, gradually befriends Brasco and becomes something of a father figure. Little does he know that Donnie Brasco's real name is Joe Pistone and that he is actually FBI agent whose mission is infiltrate New York mafia. Brasco/Pistone is very successful in earning the trust of Mafiosi and gets valuable information, but due to nature of his undercover work, his family life suffers. In the same time, he also begins to view "Lefty" as his true friend and conflicting loyalties might get him in trouble.
The best thing about Donnie Brasco is the way in which scriptwriter Paul Attanasio, creator of excellent TV show Homicide: Life on the Street, described Mafia through its footsoldiers and showed how such life is far from noble medieval ideals and glamour. Attanasio's Mafiosi are middle-aged, uneducated and unrefined people forced to run most boring and humiliating errands for ridiculously low amounts of money; they aren't that different from ordinary blue-collar workers, expect for living under constant risk of being killed or sentenced to long time in prison, usually at the hands of their closest friends. The atmosphere of quiet desperation is brought to the screen through the eyes of Al Pacino. The actor who reached stardom by playing elegant and statesman- like Mafia leader here shines in the role that seems to be the anti- thesis of Michael Corleone.
Pacino is so great even in such unglamorous role that even such modern-day star like Johnny Depp remained in his shadow. His complex role of policeman being torn by conflicting loyalties and life priorities is well-played but his character nevertheless remains something of a mystery. This is hardly surprising because real life Joe Pistone (also the author of the book upon the script was based) lives in hiding. British director Mike Newell, best known for light-hearted comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, showed that he could adapt to completely different surroundings and genres, but his effort nevertheless leaves something to be desired. He put a great effort in creating dark and depressive atmosphere of the piece, as well as deep characterisation; unfortunately, in doing so he paid less attention to plot and pace, probably forgetting that he wasn't shooting BBC mini-series - much better format for this kind of stories. Because of that, the plot suffers and isn't resolved in best way, but those flaws shouldn't discourage anyone from watching this film. Donnie Brasco shows that the solid acting and writing can salvage even the material that had been covered by much better film makers.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on August 26th 2003)
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