Mafioso
Composite Score: 83.07
Starring: Alberto Sordi, Norma Bengell, Gabriella Conti, Ugo Attanasio, Cinzia Bruno, Armando Tine, Francesco Lo Briglio, and Carmelo Oliviero
Director: Alberto Lattuada
Writers: Rafael Azcona, Bruno Caruso, Marco Ferreri, Agenore Incrocci, and Furio Scarpelli
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $400,019 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Mafioso is an Italian crime film about a Milan factory supervisor who returns home to Sicily with his wife and children and finds himself drawn unavoidably back into the criminal element that runs his hometown. The film stars Alberto Sordi as Antonio Badalamenti, the film’s energetic protagonist who wants nothing more than to introduce his wife and two daughters to his large Sicilian family and spend a couple of weeks on vacation in his hometown away from the city. It is certainly one of the more unique entries under the umbrella of “mafia movies” in that it is set almost entirely in Italy, features Italian as its primary spoken language, and goes farther than some to embrace the darkly humorous aspects of its situations. While watching it, the impact on future genre films like The Godfather, GoodFellas, and even The Departed is undeniable, making this a verifiable classic.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Much of Mafioso’s drama takes place in subtext and implications, keeping the audience guessing at just how involved Antonio is with Don Vincenzo’s operation and at what the true motivations of any of the films characters are. As such, much of the film’s character development can come across more as character revelations as opposed to true development resulting from changes in the characters’ nature. Particularly Antonio seems to experience a sort of character regression from the start of the film to its conclusion in a way that feels overly convenient for the plot, speaking much of his character choices out before he acts upon them, making it almost too easy for the audience to follow.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Despite its fairly unengaging character development, Mafioso stands out to me as a noteworthy film thanks to its embrace of its more comedic elements. Throughout the film, a sense of dread builds as the audience senses Antonio’s return to his more criminal roots, but in the midst of that devolution, there is levity and humor, playing on the less sinister aspects of organized crime – family ties, friendships, guys who really have no idea how to talk to women, old men changing their minds, you get the picture. It is in this aspect that I believe Mafioso to be a truly impactful film. Without the fast-talking, upbeat performance from Sordi as this low-level aspiring family man, I’m not sure that we get Scorsese’s wise guys from GoodFellas – Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta in what might be their best roles ever. Antonio’s combination of cool, lighthearted, and deadly comes through so intensely (in an Americanized way) in those later films that it’s hard to imagine this not being at least a bit of an influence on those other great films. The film’s comedy also helps it communicate its message in a more palatable manner – namely, that crime remains rampant in Italy and is not something that should be idealized or worshipped and that often those caught up in it are blissfully ignorant of its impact until it becomes too late for them. In this way, the film becomes a satire on top of everything else, adding to the layers of what makes it so great.
Mafioso’s humor works in three ways, first as inspiration for future mafia films, second as a mood lightener for what could otherwise be a wildly dark film, and third as a means to make its message of social criticism more palatable for its original audience, allowing the film to accomplish so much and remain one of the greatest of all time. Though its character development suffers a bit from its dialogue-heavy character development, the film works as a whole, not just as a reference piece but as its own piece of film history. It is currently available to stream via the Criterion Collection if you are interested.
