When the Irishman was announced in 2016 after a couple of years in development, there were not many people that would bet on the movie to be anything but a masterpiece. The all-star cast that included De Niro, Pacino, Ray Romano and a host of other prominent heavy hitters in Hollywood was finally in cinemas September 2019 and the 3 hours 30 minutes long movie lived up to its expectation. The movie was directed and produced by academy award winner Martin Scorsese director of The departed and Wolf of Wall Street, and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, which in reality is an Italian mob slur that loosely means “Are you a contract killer?” or something of that nature. With a budget that was just shy of $160m, it has already grossed over $600m from movie tickets alone worldwide.
The movie is spun from true-life events centered around the life of Frank Sheeran played by De Niro; an Italian mafia hitman and eventual bodyguard of Jimmy Hoffa, played by Al Pacino . Frank plays a mild-mannered truck driver that was recruited into the Italian Mafia by chance sometime in the 70s. He encountered Russell Bufalino(played by Joe Pesci) on one of his trips as a meat delivery man and after an issue concerning some “stolen meat” in which his case was handled by the Bufalino family lawyer, he was inducted into the family.
The movie follows Frank’s role as a hitman in the activities surrounding the Buffalino crime syndicate that cut across various businesses in America and Cuba. The movie touched on certain sensitive political issues, like the assassination of JFK, issues in Cuba and had a perfect blend of movie and real-life cut scenes that gives an immersive experience.
Frank’s cold-hearted personality was associated with his time in the second world war where he executed soldiers after making them dig their own graves. He talked about these events with Russell during a meeting and the abject lack of remorse was a clear indication of the kind of man he was.
Despite having such a cold personality, he showed a strong dedication and love for his family throughout the movie. His violent side came at loggerheads with his family, as his approach to protecting his family meant he resorted to taking violent action against anyone that hurt his family, and this led to his divorce and resentment from his children.
Frank was also shown to have an unusual soft spot and kindled a friendship with Jimmy Hoffa. Jimmy, played by Al Pacino, was the president of the truck drivers association and a man with political affluence at the time. After spending time in prison over a dispute and financial crime, Jimmy came back and sort to take control of the association that was of interest to the Italian Mob at the time. Despite numerous warnings and pleas by Frank and members of the Italian mob for Jimmy to let go of the association fell on deaf ears, he found himself at loggerheads with the mob. It was just business to the mob and Frank had to make a split decision that haunted him for the rest of his life.
The ensemble of actors that played in the movie was consistent with the real life events, in the sense that the cast were mostly Italian-Americans. Actors like Ray Romano, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, and Kathrine Narducci came together to give the movie a very original feel and seamlessly blend with the underlying culture of Italians living in America generally.
There are still question marks concerning the factuality of certain aspects and stories depicted in the movie related to jimmy Hoffa’s death, Frank’s deteriorating relationship with his family and his involvement in Crazy Joe’s hit, but that takes nothing away from this quality rendition of the events through the eyes of Frank Sheeran. It’s probably the longest movie since Lord of the Rings but I can promise you that you won’t notice time fly by as you stay glued to your screen.
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