Predictable story of an average gangster

Rating: 1/10 (19 December 2012)

At a most general level the movie is about a dilemma of an average gangster. At certain point in his career if things go wrong, an average mobster faces a dilemma. A dilemma of becoming either a 'rat' or a 'martyr'.
At the story level the most of the characters are all too 'rationalistic', in the sense that most of the time they are doing whatever they got to do to stay fit and survive. Probably the only exception is Tommy DeVito, whose overcompensating, psychotic aggression makes him the only interesting character. However, even in his case, the all too 'rationalistic' social milieu makes his fate far to predictable. Everybody except Tommy know the rules and know the limits. There are rules to rob, rules to kill, rules to betray and rules to go to jail. Tommy is the only person that challenges the order.
Overall, contrary to romantic stereotypes, the portrayal of mafia world gives a picture of strict subordination and 'law-abidingness'. The story gives the picture of the mafia world that is exactly the opposite of what the narrator's childhood memories describe. What seemed to be the world of the free, daring and interesting, strong men, appears as a world of socially conditioned, 'rationalistic' and predictable world of predator mammals, who do whatever their dominant cultural environment permits or commands them to do.