A Profoundly Moving Tale of Loyalty, Betrayal, and Guilt

Rating: 10/10 (29 November 2019)

Scorsese's mob films (I'll lump Wolf of Wall Street in with them) are harshly critical of organized crime and the destruction these criminals bring down on everyone around them. However, those sequences when the world comes crashing down around the main characters are explosive and fast, never leaving enough time for reflection on the crimes committed and the lives ruined. 'The Irishman' takes the time to focus on the guilt-ridden aftermath. That focus turns the film into a profoundly moving piece.
I will first say that the otherwise masterful editing is weak in the opening 45 minutes. The film inter-cuts too often between the establishing scenes and events that take place much later. Without any context, these edits struck me as awkward and pointless. This is a nothing complaint, just don't be too worried if the opening feels a little odd.
The foundation of the film is the moral struggle of De Niro's Frank Sheeran. Sheeran is both a trusted associate of the mob and a trusted friend of Jimmy Hoffa's teamster union. The tensions between Hoffa and the mob place Sheeran in the middle of two stubborn and powerful forces. De Niro's acting is subtle beyond belief. Sheeran is a cold hard professional, and any melodrama from the character would be a misstep. The film itself effortlessly sidesteps any cheap emotional frills where they easily could have surfaced. Nevertheless, we can always see into Sheeran's head and understand the moral questions he is facing.
The aftermath of the struggle is where 'The Irishman' shines though. We see what happens to these men in old age. Powerful mobsters don't often die of natural causes. Throughout the film, we are greeted with slightly comical blurbs telling how and when various mobsters died (often via violence). But what about those who live to see 80. These men didn't build lives to last, and so we see them limp on to deeply depressing deaths.
That is the point of 'The Irishman.' Even when mobsters live, they live only to see that their lives were pathetic. It is a reflection on the price that a mob life inflicts on those who live it, and those around them. That makes this the ultimate mob film. The sense of fun that lasted to the final scenes of 'Goodfellas' is overridden by somber reflection. There cannot be anything but a depressing ending.