My favorite film

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2005)

Once Upon a Time in America is my favorite film. It plays like a live-action novel, and at 229 minutes, it would probably be faster to read the book (it's loosely based on "The Hoods" by Harry Gray).
Sergio Leone uses his classic filming style in which broad landscapes and wide angle scenery shots are juxtaposed against close up shots of character's faces. Everything is meticulously edited and every shot has something important to say.
The strong point of the film is its meaning, which is generally overlooked by most critics, who are typically more interested in plot. The plot is convoluted and at times uninteresting, but the message that the film sends is far more important. This movie is ultimately about the individual versus the collective. Using the idea of the "American Dream" as a catalyst, Leone employs themes of friendship, love, crime, and nostalgia to illustrate why individualism is overrated.
Max (James Woods) gradually takes over Noodles' (Robert de Niro) childhood gang. As they grow older, Max acquires more and more of what Noodles once had: his lover, his money, his friends, and, ultimately, his life. Max discovered that he could use his close-knit friends to catapult himself into a better life, while destroying Noodles' life and getting his other friends killed.
Leone assumes that the American Dream has to do with our focus on the individual. He shows the flaw in our belief that individual happiness doesn't require collective contentment by showing it in an individual case. What's interesting about this film is that it takes the perspective of the man who lost everything, unlike most American stories, which tend to illustrate a struggle to success. Noodles is left without money and exiled from his home for 35 years. Max climbs to the heights of power, but is left regretful and unhappy.
In the final scene, Noodles is seen smoking opium and smiling in a drug-induced haze. Through the complex sequence of flashbacks, it's possible that everything in the movie after a certain point was nothing more than a dream of Noodles'. Leone is suggesting that the American Dream itself is nothing more than a dream.