Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 208 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Stephen Graham, Jesse Plemons, Bobby Canavale, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin, Ray Romano
Description: A mob hitman (Robert De Niro) recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).
Review: Martin Scorsese devotes three and a half hours to explaining the life story of mafia and trade unionist Frank Sheeran, nicknamed The Irishman. Despite the somewhat episodic approach of action, counteraction and retaliation, time flies by. So don’t the runtime scare you off, because it’s worth your time!
In his beautifully photographed true story, Scorsese and his scriptwriter Steven Zaillian make use of a complex, but natural double frame story in which Sheeran has to drive the mafioso Russell Bufalino to Detroit. During the many smoke breaks of their two wives present, Scorsese looks back on Sheeran's career at Bufalino's family. The whole thing is cast in the story of a very old Sheeran who looks back at the past against an invisible interviewer in the nursing home.
Central to the story, but only inserted later in the story, is Sheeran's involvement in the death of the criminal trade union boss Hoffa, who maintained ties with the mafia. Whether Sheeran actually had something to do with it remains shrouded in mystery, but if we are to believe the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by former policeman and justice officer Charles Brandt, this was beyond dispute. What preceded it was a detailed account of Sheeran's criminal achievements.
After the war he was a truck driver for a meat company and after a defective truck accidentally came into contact with the charismatic but criminal Bufalino. Soon the Irishman became the regular meat provider for the mafioso with whom Bufalino had dealings. What followed is the first job and that went from bad to worse. Sheeran became a confidant of the family and his hands became increasingly dirty. The viewer has to experience for himself how he finally made it to a trade union receipt, if only because it illustrates how Scorsese manages to bring the most far-reaching developments to the fore in an extremely natural way.
What The Irishman has in common with the many high quality people enjoyed (in which Scorsese himself also made a big contribution) is the extremely sophisticated way in which the criminal environment is portrayed. Close family ties prevail, but treason is punishable by death. There is an unwritten hierarchy and Sheeran slowly but surely manages to climb up through his faithful character.
The cast is amazing. Both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have been in a lot of questionable movies over the past years, but this is the setting they belong in. Pacino has the honor to run off with the most comic one-liners. Like the slick union leader Jimmy Hoffa, Pacino is the star of the show. He provides the much-needed comic note in the brutal waves of violence. And De Niro is more solid than he has been for a long time. The fact that Joe Pesci is probably retired now and he returned for this film, is a godsend. He plays a spider in the web of a complicated and intriguing and extremely political organization, but does not put himself in the foreground. He is often the declarant for De Niro and in my opinion the best part of the film.
We see a filmmaker and a cast at work who have more than earned theirs spurs. They can an may allow themselves complete freedom to work out a story in detail. “The Irishman” is a very strong film. If you waited for this movie and have high expectations, you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 4,5/ 5
