Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2019)

If you can't get by an actor's politics to watch a movie then suit yourself. I certainly don't believe in Deniro's liberal world view. But that's not going to stop me from watching a movie he happens to be in unless the movie itself is political propaganda, which is not the case here. There is no denying the virtuosity of certain actors and watching Deniro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel all together in one epic film was a rare treat. It's like a renaissance painting in which DaVinci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Titian all had a hand. In a thousand years, are the politics of those artists going to matter one fig when it comes to appreciating their creations? What's striking and engrossing about this film is the arc of the narrative that ends where we all know our own lives will end but don't want to think about it: old, infirm, possibly alone, facing our mortality and the possible consequences of our choices in life. We, as men, can empathize somewhat with Sheeran as he tries to justify his life's choices to his estranged Daughter as his attempt to protect his family from the horrors of the world. We observe Deniro as he is preparing for his own end. We watch Sheeran's attempt at confession as a Catholic priest incredulously tries to evoke repentance from a man who is so morally callous that he cannot even summon the remorse needed to save his own soul. The priest is left with no option but to fudge a loophole that he hopes will gain his supplicant absolution, but probably won't. In the end, we watch voyeuristically as Sheeran is reduced to selecting his own coffin. It is due to Deniro's virtuosity that Sheeran seems simultaneously both disturbed and matter-of-fact as he does so. In the end, we see Sheeran, alone, in a nursing home contemplating his past and its consequences. And we find ourselves wondering if Sheeran, on some level, is us.