Donnie Brosco

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2007)

This movie was recommended to me and I saw it because of that.
It is based on a true story of a FBI undercover agent Donnie Brasco (Johny Depp) who infiltrates the underworld and mafia by taking into confidence a second in-command Benjamin "Lefty" (Al Pacino). The trust both of them build in each other pushes Donnie to a point of being a mafia himself and associating in many crimes the gang commits. There is a power struggle of their team leader Sonny Black (Michael Madsen) who over-throws their rival gang and senior boss to become a leader. It is in the end that they realize Donnie is an undercover agent, which leads to them killing Benjamin. There is a parallel plot running of problems faced by Donnie Brasco in his family life due to the kind of job he is handling.
The movie reminded me a lot of Departed. Surely a part of Departed story is lifted from Donnie Brasco with additional angle of undercover mafia in police is added.
But Donnie Brasco excels solely on its story and screenplay. It is honest, tight and gripping. One remains glued to the seat till the very end. Al Pacino performs the role of Lefty with such a punch and marvelous acting that puts him in the top bracket of best Hollywood actors. Johny Depp is good, but this was not his best performance.
The Director Mike Newell (who took almost 30 years to make his first movie after his debut as TV director) does a very good job in direction.
The story had drama and thrill in it. There were only two shooting or violent scenes in the whole movie yet one felt on the seat at every moment. That was the difference between good cinema and today's violent cinema that is sadly considered good.
It shows that one can depict a mafia story with all the thrills and chills even without showing crude violence and shootings.
(Stars 7.5 out of 10)