The real-life of Tommaso Buscetta, the so-called “boss of the two worlds,” the first mafia informant in Sicily in the 1980s.
The reality of gangsters veers occasionally into the mythos of popular fiction. Sometimes what you see on screen can imitate real life in an eerily accurate way. Marco Bellochio took those incongruities and created a movie out of them. “The Traitor” covers thirty years of Mafioso and Italian government politics by way of Tommaso Buscetta, a high-ranking Mafia member-turned-informant. It meanders its way through the story applying an arid sense of aesthetic in the vein of true crime. In the end, “The Traitor” deals clever absolutes in the dry aesthetic creating surrealist humor at the tragedy of it all.
Pierfrancesco Favino plays the titular character with grace and ferocity. His pensive reactions give us a window into the mind of a Mafioso. The whole film really anchors around him as he gets pushed from event to event subsequently losing family and friends in the process until he’s forced to become a ‘penitenti’ (penitent.) Luigi Lo Cascio plays his friend and fellow penitenti reminiscing on the glory days of Mafia living in an almost comical hyperbole. Everyone in the film puts on their A-game but it’s Favino who turns on the heat.
The film takes some time to warm up to. Its simple aesthetic and less-than-actionable plot needs a little forewarning. I’m sure the marketing for this movie promised explosions and gunfights but the value in any of these comes from its character arcs. “The Traitor” utilizes its characters dearly, often crafting a more nuanced view of these anti-heroes. Its sympathy lies in Favino’s hands as he garners all of our attention. Given that the film unrolls over a thirty-year period it’s understandable to lose track, and that might be my biggest detraction.
“The Traitor” delivers on all manner of powerful moments but only in a small way. Its stripped-down editing and long-running timeline make it difficult to track, but the ephemeral performances of Pierfrancesco certainly make up for this fault. I enjoyed this movie very thoroughly and found it successful largely on its own merit. Given that this is my first Bellochio film I may have to go back and watch more of his work.
In Theaters Friday, February 21st
