Are We Supposed To Ignore What Happened?

Rating: 7/10 (7 November 2019)

I think I should give myself a good rating for being able to watch a nearly four hour movie. It was good, but nothing that couldn't be covered in let's say two or two and a half hours.
It's a long tale focusing mainly on the character Noodles (Robert De Niro). We're taken through three distinct points in his life and his rather topsy turvy relationship with his running mate Max (James Woods). The two of them led a rugged pack of friends that graduated from petty crimes to big time licks.
It was an interesting tale yet nothing spectacular. It's hard to ignore the fact that the main character is a two time rapist.
The first woman, Carol (Tuesday Weld), actually enjoyed the sexual assault. This is not me misinterpreting the sexual encounter through male eyes, this is me seeing the woman truly enjoying being raped and wanting to rendezvous with Noodles again when they later met. It could be said that her enjoyment of that sexual encounter led Noodles to strike again. Perhaps, he internalized that experience as "this is how women like to be treated."
Which leads to his second rape. This time it was Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern), a woman he "cared" about and she did not enjoy any part of it. If the first rape could be dismissed as an aggressive act of giving a woman what she wanted, the second rape absolutely could not be. Yes, Deborah kissed him, but she also vigorously and demonstratively rebuffed Noodles' aggressive advances. There was no ambiguity there. She wanted no part of that sexual encounter.
Even with those two heinous acts, it's like they show you that but don't want those acts to define him. He is more than those two rapes. Sure, OK. But much like I'm sure Deborah never forgot it, I couldn't forget it. And how many rapists and killers are out there that have done very humanitarian things beyond their crimes?
I am reviewing the entire movie though. The movie is more than just those two acts of rape, even though I had a hard time moving past them. The movie as a whole is better than average, but nothing spectacular.