Enter into the Mafia Lifestyle

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2016)

"Goodfellas" is a movie based on the life story of Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, and his involvement in the New York mafia. Henry's main partners throughout the movie are Tommy (Joe Pesci), James Conway (Robert De Niro), the boss Paul (Paul Cicero) and his wife Karen (Lorraine Braco). The movie revolves around a few different plot points as Henry moves through the mafia.
At the beginning, Henry is a teenager and responsible for small things, such as parking cars or selling stolen property. As he grows up he becomes fully entrenched into the mafia. The film does a great job of showing the family atmosphere of the mafia, especially showing the distinction between their public marriage and their private affairs, or "Fridays are for girlfriends" routine.
As Henry gets deeper into the drugs, you can see his physical appearance change. Their house, which was once very simply designed, becomes designed with wild colors and arrangements, representing the craziness of their lives. The settings continue to get more and more convoluted until he is finally arrested. As he has to choose between his mafia family and his wife and kids, you can understand how much he felt he lost - his entire identity.
Another method that was extremely effective was that throughout the movie, Henry narrated, explaining different actions of the mafia, what things meant, and how he interpreted things. Karen also narrated at the beginning, explaining her attraction to Henry, but giving a vivid account of how she interpreted the mafia from the outside, showing how different the two views were at the time. This was in contrast to a similar movie series, "The Godfather," where very little narration took place. Both were effective ways of communicating the action, however the narration in "Goodfellas" ensured that the audience knew what was going on the entire time, whereas "The Godfather" allowed the audience to make up their own minds.
Overall, "Goodfellas" was an excellent film. The life in the mafia is always a bit of a mystery, and the film brought to light many different aspects of the life, from how they make money, to the killings, and their deep family life. The techniques the director used amplified in many ways Henry's life and his eventual arrest and the events thereafter. They helped form a bond with his character that almost made you feel sympathetic to him, and allowed the audience to really enter into the mafia lifestyle.