The Irishman (2019)

When I saw the billing that Al Pacino was one of the cast members, I decided to include The Irishman in my Netflix watch list because I loved his performances in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Scent of a Woman (1992), Angels in America (2003)... and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). Yeah, even when he played a caricature of his other characters, I enjoyed watching him. And then, I saw that Robert De Niro was also in The Irishman's cast. I loved his endearing father figure roles in The Intern (2015) and Stardust (2007), and the way he portrayed an expert safe-cracker in The Score (2001). So I thought that I should watch The Irishman as soon as I could. Then, I read that Joe Pesci was also top-billed. I've seen him play one of the comedic villains in the Home Alone series. I fully expected him to play another villain role in The Irishman but I did not expect it to be slapstick because the movie poster did not have that vibe.

Oh boy, what I saw in The Irishman was beyond what I expected! The three lead characters (Pacino, De Niro, and Pesci) were excellent! The three of them acted so well that it was so easy to believe how deeply embedded their characters were within the world of organised crime. The movie began with Frank Sheeran (De Niro) narrating his life story, followed by the plot presented in flashbacks. It turned out that he was a World War II veteran who fought in Italy. When he came back to the US, he worked as a meat delivery truck driver. Events in his life transformed him into a hitman (he "painted houses") for Russell Buffalino (Pesci), the head of a local crime family. Upon Bufalino's recommendation, he became a body guard and "house painter" (and eventually a confidante) of Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino), a prominent labour leader who had financial connections with the Bufalinos. When the crime families became displeased with Hoffa's behaviour, they sanctioned his kill and assigned Sheeran to do it. Russell, who was also a good friend—almost family—to Sheeran, had to break the news to him ("It is what it is."). Hoffa went missing and the investigators could not find evidence linking the masterminds or their henchmen to his disappearance. Eventually, Russell and Sheeran were put in jail for lengthy sentences, not in connection for the Hoffa case but for other crimes. Russell died in prison (according to Sheeran, Russell went to church, then to the hospital, then to the cemetery). Sheeran, on the other hand, survived his sentence and was transferred to a nursing facility where he was narrating his story.

What I got out of the movie was that mobsters were humans too. The familial relationship between Russell and Sheeran was such an example. Despite Sheeran's closeness to Hoffa, his loyalties still remained with the Bufalinos. In contrast, other movies I've seen portrayed mobsters as gun-wielding men with restaurant as meeting venues (just like in The Dark Knight and in Enemy of the State); they're automatically labelled the bad guys. But in The Irishman, I found it so difficult to decide who's the bad guy—the antagonist—in the film. From Hoffa's point of view, the crime families were the antagonists: they were trying to pull him out of the labour union leadership. From the Bufalinos' point of view, Hoffa was the antagonist: he had to be taken down because his behaviour was against the interests of the families. Sheeran was caught in the middle of two warring factions and he had to display loyalty to both camps. 

The movie's shock value for me was how unemotional the violent murders were presented. Sheeran just methodically chose a gun, shot the person in close range, rode the getaway car, and threw the weapon into a body of water. The Hoffa kill was so well planned that no forensic evidence was found (his body was even cremated); the mob took painstaking detail in cleaning up the venue. 

The shock value and the emotional pull reminded me of The Departed, which also had a great roster of actors in the cast (led by Leonardo di Caprio and Matt Damon) and whose main plot pitted the mob with the police. Turns out that both The Irishman and The Departed were directed by the same director, Martin Scorsese!