User Reviews

"Il traditore", which of course means "The Traitor", is a new Italian Italian-language movie. Or is it really? Partially I'd say. It premiered in 2019 already, other countries got delayed because of the pandemic, and there are many other production countries credited here and also several other languages, even if really most of it is in Italian. So no surprise that thise film was the huge winner at the most recent big national film award ceremony in Italy. Which also means, it got picked to represent Italy at the Oscars, but came short and dit not make the final short list, let alone the nominations. Maybe one reason is why this is a truly slow film, especially early on at times. It runs for a massive 2.5 hours (yes I know another very long film won the Oscar for Italy not too long ago), even minimally over, and I must say there are moments when it drags more than just a bit. Maybe I was just a bit tired early on, but I can't deny that the first 30 or even 45 minutes felt exttremely slow and I would not have given three stars out of five for these. Certainly not. But luckily, things get more tense, more interesting and just better in general in the second half. Actually, from the second third onwards even. I think one problem I had with all this early on as that it was still gruff with the shooting of all these characters there, but you did not really know who they were. You did not really know who the shooters were. So there was just no connection whatsoever and it did not feel deep or inspired as a consequence. I mean taking lives is something drastic and tragic, but if you have no clue what is going on and who is who, then it is almost impossible nonetheless to really feel something. So yeah, the introduction to it all could have been handled better or maybe I was just too tired, but the longer the movie went, the more it grew on me and with the lengthy courtroom sequence it certainly had drawn me in eventually. So I am glad the protagonist's attempt to take his own life inside the plane(?) with this poison did not turn out successful. Because then the film would have ended at a point where it really shouldn't have. The courtroom sequence was certainly amomng the best courtroom sequences from recent years to me. I mean what a mess going on there and I do not only mean the audience's excalamations, but also the constant denying about who knows who, the guy who is naked suddenly, the guy who stitched together his lips to make a far bigger statement than his lips could, the guy who is suddenly naked and so on. Most of all how everybody is so eager about cross examinations, but after the first does not go so well for the defense, they do not wannt to do them anymore. This specific scene there with Ferracane also made him remember me easily. A bit surprised to see that he lost the Italian Film Award to another supporting actor from this film here, one I did not consider too memorable at all. Same applies to Maria Amato, who was also nominated. Wait, is she really Bud Spencer's widow? Okay cool. Then I have to go easy on her. Love the man. Back to this film here, anybody else thought there were many actors in here who resembled slightly famous American actors. Like John Slattery, the guy who palys Eli Gold on "The Good Wife", Woody Harrelson (I Think), the dude from "The Walking Dead" yes Andrew Lincoln and maybe one or two others. Sorry, very random, probably just me.

One thing I need to say here is that while watching this film I was a bit surprised how there are really not too many films about Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) from Italy anymore as you could think there were. I mean we here in Germany are constantly getting films about the GDR, the relentless government there, the RAF sometimes too, so I would think that such a crucial subject from Italy's political history should be featured more frequently. But maybe it helped this movie that they did not feel there are not really any more stories left to be told and this explains the film's success. I mean it was a good film all in all, but the awards recognition and nominations sometimes were a bit too much perhaps. Also at Cannes Film Festival. Howw can anybody else there get in than the male lead. And so random this female submission too. Never heard of lead actor Pierfrancesco Favino before though, who physically reminded me a bit of Benicio del Toro. Certainly my loss. He is good and sometimes it feels pretty impressive how he carried the film from beginning to end. I mean he always gets help from the supporting cast, but still does a marvellous job at times. One scene that was basically only him is when he is at that supermarket and kinda worried somebody could show up and kill him too like with the prestigious judge earlier. So he buys the gun. A lot of the suspene in the final quarter of them film is linked to whether he will live or die (through somebody else's hand) and as this film is based on actual characters and stories, you could not be sure at all. A 50-50 matter. But yes, I wrote spoilers included, so he lives in the end and dies from old age apparently, but he never really feels safe anymore which we know through seeing him constantly on the roof up there with his gun for protection right near him. He even sleeps up there. These references about actual characters like Buscetta are why I think this is an especially crucial watch for Italian and those are the ones that I recommend it to the most. But also non-Italians like myself can have a good time seeing this one here. or a haunting time maybe even. There are some psychologically shocking moments like when we see the woman outside the helicopter and they use her and threaten to kill her to get information out of him. This shot definitely stays in the mind, almost epic. Others that were painful to watch (not because they were bad, certainly not) include the one when the two sons are brutally strangled. Or those recurring recordings of prison inmates going literally insane in these very small chambers and you can tell from the way they walk in there. (Just like with animals who have too little space. There's a scientific term for that even I think.) Or behave. Definitely helps in staying on the right side of the law this movie. Okay what else can I add. Yeah well, do not doze off in the first 35 minutes and you are in for a solid treat. I must still say the film was not really on a level where I would want to watch it anytime soon again unfortunately. Once is enough maybe. Oh yes, one I have not mentioned yet at all is Marco Bellocchio. Shame on me, also in terms of how I have not seen too much from his gigantic body of work that received so much awards recognition. He's been in the film industry for 60 years now, turned 80 in under a year and while he was not retired or so, he made a big comeback with this movie after focusing on short films recently in the years before that. Well, this film is anything but short. Maybe his experience and that he witnessed all those Buscetta events in person as he was not just alive, but also conscious back then, helped with this film too and how realistic it feels. Yes he is just a co-writer here and several other people worked on the screenplay, but that is nothing unusual either. By the way, anybody also getting Buscetta and Bruscetta mixed up? Probably no Italians would. And also no non-Italians that speak the language. Okay, I am drifting away now, so I shall leave it at that. It is almost a must-see if you like Mafia films. (No I know Mafia does not exist. Thanks for telling me.) But it is not really a film that will get you interested in the genre. If you wanna go for it, please don#t expect Godfather level. The overall outcome here gets a cautious thumbs-up from me. No enthusiasm, but I am still glad I got to see it.

This is probably the most low key gangster movie you're liable to see; the mob hits come by way of narrative rather than actual on screen violence. This is purportedly the way the Italian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, was eventually taken down, with informants from one of the warring crime families identified as the Palermo Clan in the picture. The story is told primarily from the perspective of 'soldier' Tommaso Buscetta (Pierfrancesco Favino), who one day simply had enough of the mob life and decided to hang it up. It's a truism that no one retires from the Mafia, but in Don Masino's case, he decided to cooperate with authorities and related much of his knowledge to Italian judge Giovanni Falcone (Fausto Russo Alesi). The ways of Italian justice come across as rather odd, as one's view of the courtroom scenes includes a backdrop of crime family inmates in a prison cell, and witnesses are allowed to question each other in open court. This had to be sensational front page news back in the Eighties as it was occurring, but it doesn't translate into a very exciting movie experience. "Godfather" fans would probably find this almost on the dull side, with the only similarity to that picture emanating from the family name Corleone.

I loved watching this movie in subtitles, it gave me a feel for godfather 2. This is about a ex costra nostra who has his entire "family" slaughtered when he exists the business. There was some really cool scenes that were shot from a perspective I never seen, like when the bridge blows up and the camera shows the inside of the car view, very cool. I liked the story line, definitely recommend it.

Cosa Nostra on trial. This film is inherently interesting, made more so by stellar performances, that are simple and honest. There is no pretension here, just an insight into the troubled and tortured life of a man who decided to expose the vicious criminal organisation he once served.

It's basically a faithful retelling of the mafia story and how largely one traitor put them all behind bars. Hundreds of people. At the very start Tommaso Buscetta moves to Brazil with a fake passport as he wanted to get away from the new extremely profitable but dangerous heroin trade. Compared to real life the actor looks considerably younger and more normal. The real life Tommaso Buscetta had some face lifts that made him very weird while this guy just looks normal. In Brazil he finds out that 2 of his sons were killed by the mafia in Italy. Many of his family members were killed too. It's actually hard to understand what happened. He just gets a call from someone who is crying. We later see that it's likely his wife. But where was he? How does he know his sons died? He still wants to hide away as he likes women and his calm family life. But the Brazilian police storm his house. They beat him up in prison and later dangle his daughter or new wife out of a helicopter as he looks on. I don't know if that helicopter stuff is realistic in any way, but the rest seems true to real life somewhat. Just very hard to understand.

Buscetta takes some poison on the way to Italy, but doesn't die. When in Italy we see him sitting across Giovanni Falcone who is prosecuting the mafia. He seemingly is working with the government somehow. But we only hear very few things from him so it's not quite clear what is going on. There are also too many dream scenes and flashbacks everywhere. It's hard to understand the point. I kinda needed to get the history and the characters, but often the movie instead shows us random scenes. Especially animals in zoo cages. All the time various animals are cut into a scene. All to illustrate how the mafia is going to prison, but not needed whatsoever. Instead they should have had a narrator or shown scenes where someone tells something about the event to another person.

We see a ton of mafia bosses just sit around or go to court. They sit in small prison cells in court and shout. The judge tries to listen to Buscetta, but he's constantly interrupted by the defense lawyers shouting or the inmates shouting. The movie never lets anyone have time to explain much of anything. And we just jump from scene to scene. It seems like most scenes are small stories someone once wrote about or told the cops. So it's not one single story. They don't try to tell a coherent story with a protagonist or make it clear who is who or who wants what. It's just a bunch of real life events one after another. We never quite understand what is going on. Yet I was glued to the screen. I wanted to know what happened. I knew it was all real life and that by itself made it interesting. Unfortunately Buscetta is not that interesting and we never quite understand what he wants or why. We don't understand what he did for the mafia, why he wanted to become a traitor, or what he told the cops. Later we see how he finds out that one of his best friends from childhood killed his sons. Just like Buscetta said at the start, but he shouldn't have had that info there. There are a ton of flashback scenes, but this was one that really tied it all together. You could understand the motivation and emotions behind it all. The movie lucks into fair enough storytelling by just throwing everything at the screen and hoping the audience will somehow understand the wider picture. We never fully do, but I just liked how we follow real life events. Nice to see the Italian courts and to learn about hundreds of murders and how the mafia ruled Italy. This is pretty extreme. They just kill hundreds of people while hiding INSIDE Italy. Imagine that happening in England or USA today? You can't. You know the guy who does it. Know how he looks like. Even know what area he lives in. But he kills hundreds of innocent people and even Falcone and other prosecutors. Just protected by Sicilians.

It's maybe not an ideally told story. But the sets look real and the acting is good. You are never quite bored which is already special for a movie. But I'm sure there are better docs and movies about this story. Something that actually tells the story.