The Traitor (2019) Sony Pictures Classics/Drama RT: 153 minutes Rated R (violence, sexual content, language, brief graphic nudity) Director: Marco Bellocchio Screenplay: Marco Bellocchio, Valia Santella, Ludovica Rampoldi, Francesco Piccolo and Francesco La Licata Music: Nicola Piovani Cinematography: Vladan Radovic Release date: February 14, 2020 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Maria Fernanda Candido, Fabrizio Ferracane, Fausto Russo Alesi, Luigi Lo Cascio, Nicola Cali, Giovanni Calcagno, Bruno Cariello. Box Office: $8.9M (World) Spoken in Italian w/English subtitles
Rating: *** ½
The Italian crime drama The Traitor plays like the love child of Francis Ford Coppola and Sidney Lumet in how it relates the story of Tommaso Buscetta, the first Mafia boss to turn informant. His testimony before Italy’s high court led to the convictions of more than 300 members of Cosa Nostra in the mid 80s. Some thought him a hero, most called him a traitor to his own people.
Wide in scope and covering two decades, The Traitor is at once a gripping crime drama and a fascinating character study of a man caught between loyalty and revenge. Buscetta’s (Favino) story begins in 1980 when he tries to leave Cosa Nostra to start a new life in Brazil. NOBODY leaves Cosa Nostra. Once you’re in, it’s for life. Family members, including his two sons, are murdered by pissed-off mob boss Riina (Cali). Then he and his third wife Cristina (Candido) are arrested, tortured and imprisoned by Brazilian authorities on charges of drug trafficking, a crime Buscetta repeatedly denies. Four years later, he’s extradited back to Italy where he agrees to spill his guts about Cosa Nostra to Judge Falcone (Alesi), the prosecutor determined to put an end to the Mafia once and for all. It’s either that or go to prison. Given what they did to his family, it’s a clear choice albeit one that will put a target on him for the rest of his life.
What’s interesting about The Traitor is that director Marco Bellocchio (Blood of My Blood) expands the scope of the film beyond the trials that took place circa 1986-87. He shows the events that made Buscetta cooperate with the authorities and his life in America upon entering Witness Protection. These scenes are imbued with tension as Buscetta must have his guard up at all times. A questionable incident at a restaurant leads to him and his family being uprooted and moved to another small town with new identities. His closest friend through all this is another mobster-turned-informant (Lo Cascio) in the program. He still longs for the days when he was treated as royalty. All Buscetta wants to do is survive.
Bellocchio also gives us an inside look at how the Italian court system works. The defendants, kept in cages in the back of the courtroom, are afforded the opportunity to cross-examine their accusers. This leads to a scene where Buscetta gets to face the turncoat (Ferracane) responsible for his sons’ deaths. It’s pretty intense.
Although The Traitor is about an hour shorter than The Irishman, I felt its length more than I did with Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus. That doesn’t mean I got bored at any point. Quite the opposite, I found The Traitor absolutely compelling. I like that Bellocchio sees fit to include the bombing that killed Falcone in ’92. This incident was also covered in last year’s documentary Shooting the Mafia. Bellocchio gives the viewer a strong sense of time and place. The contrast between lively Italy and dull Middle America is like the difference between night and day.
In the titular role, Favino does incredible work. You really feel his sense of conflict between his two families. When one betrays him, he knows he must settle the score by betraying them even if it puts his wife and surviving children in danger. You also feel his disillusion over the straight life where his wife has to support him because he can’t get a job. It’s a blow to Buscetta’s manhood and we all know the importance of male pride in Italian culture.
Although dark and violent at times, The Traitor is truly an excellent picture. It’s well-acted and well-written. It paints a clear portrait of a man of character forced to betray his brothers-in-arms, kind of like a certain New York cop played by Al Pacino. It’s also a riveting look at 20 years of Mafia history in Italy. It works on more than one level. In the end however, it’s a damn good movie worth checking out.
