A glimpse of American history told by a killer in the pay of the mafia and organized crime intertwined with politics. This is the plot of The Irishman by Martin Scorsese, distributed in cinemas from 4 to 6 November and subsequently from 27 of the same month in streaming on the platform Netflix.
First the movie. This is the umpteenth story of many years, starting from the post-war period, where the various mafias, cartels and criminal organizations of all kinds in the United States have done and undone as they please, have created and supported empires of various kinds, managed business and trafficking with all goods: from drugs to weapons. Before this film, on the big screen, Francis Ford Coppola had thought about it with The Godfather in 1972 to remember how, in what way, with what mechanisms, a criminal system based essentially on family relationships and ties, on the common origins that bind an immigrant community in the United States could function. Subsequently, in 1984 Sergio Leone arrived with Once upon a time in America to draw an unforgettable fresco. Before and after them, countless other titles have tackled the same subject to the point of creating a true cinematic genre.
Someone had thought that this trend was exhausted, but it still seems to have a hold on the general public. Perhaps, also because questions are raised and problems destined to remain unsolved are raised: this could be precisely the reason why this world still attracts so much attention.
For example, this film brings to mind that very black page of American history marked by the assassination of Kennedy, as well as that of the failed invasion of Cuba. More than 50 years later, full light has never been shed on what happened and, indeed , other equally obscure pages have been written.
Scorsese gets his hands back on it and, as usual, with great skill. Needless to mention that "monument" of Taxi Driver. This director masters the cinema, with its models, its techniques, its languages perfectly and in The Irishman concentrates them all in almost four hours of screening. Perhaps too many: probably suitable for a fragmented fruition as will be possible with the streaming platform, but not very suitable for the big screen where there is no plot, no narrative path to follow but only a collection of sequences, stills, evidence of top notch acting. The latter are the real pivot of the film, the track that alone deserves the vision: a Robert De Niro in its best form together with Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel. All the rest, which is no small thing, is the corollary, the right accompaniment to a high-level product.
Some have written that it is a masterpiece. Perhaps it will not be in the full sense of the term but it is certainly a film that will mark a milestone in this genre of films. Both for the content, variously assorted stories of the Italian-American mafia, and for the productive part. In some respects it approaches that line of great cinematic works that are increasingly expensive and difficult to make and only for how much Netflix intervened with a substantial contribution (the film cost over 140 million dollars) Scorsese was able to complete the work.
The Irishman could represent the epic conclusion of a genre that may have exhausted everything that could be told on the big screen. It certainly doesn't exhaust the pleasure of seeing the art of acting expressed in its most significant form.
