Mafioso (1964) directed by Alberto Lattuada
Nino doesn't realize what is happening before it is too late; he is stuck doing the Don a favor he cannot refuse. In a way, the audience is in the same boat as Nino is. At first we think we are seeing an almost farce-like comedy when things suddenly become deathly serious. Without even realizing it we have just witnessed a startling crime drama that was brewing underneath the surface all along.
Nino is a Sicilian born man who takes his wife and two daughters on vacation for the first time to his hometown in Calamo. He has a romanticized memory of Sicily where everything is peaches and cream despite all the clues to tell him otherwise. Upon arrival there is a funeral procession. He asks a man, "How did he die?" The man replies, "Two bullets." Even several of Nino's childhood friends are now dead, but he does not let that bother him. The affable and gregarious Nino is so happily naive he can almost be seen as a caricature and indeed the beginning portions of the film plays out like a comedy. Nino's wife and daughters are almost like tourists in Sicily as the culture is so different from their urban Italian life. We get to meet Nino's relatives, an almost Italian version of the Brady Bunch.
Then Nino pays his respect to the influential Don Vincenzo and without realizing it has just stepped into the mafia's underworld. The Don helps Nino's father with a land purchase and Nino pledges his undying loyalty to him without really realizing what that might entail. We can see the Don has devious plans for him all the while he thinks of him as a benevolent benefactor. Then he is unwittingly sent to America to do a dirty deed that rivals Al Pacino's restaurant scene in The Godfather. It is an interesting character study of a good man who can be turned into the world of crime almost in the blink of an eye and shows the corrupting power of the mafia that seeps into people's pores as if by osmosis. He returns back to his family as if nothing has changed, though everything has. Can he ever be normal again after his mission? The closing shots would indicate that even the most good natured of people cannot escape evil.
Grade: B
Nino doesn't realize what is happening before it is too late; he is stuck doing the Don a favor he cannot refuse. In a way, the audience is in the same boat as Nino is. At first we think we are seeing an almost farce-like comedy when things suddenly become deathly serious. Without even realizing it we have just witnessed a startling crime drama that was brewing underneath the surface all along.
Nino is a Sicilian born man who takes his wife and two daughters on vacation for the first time to his hometown in Calamo. He has a romanticized memory of Sicily where everything is peaches and cream despite all the clues to tell him otherwise. Upon arrival there is a funeral procession. He asks a man, "How did he die?" The man replies, "Two bullets." Even several of Nino's childhood friends are now dead, but he does not let that bother him. The affable and gregarious Nino is so happily naive he can almost be seen as a caricature and indeed the beginning portions of the film plays out like a comedy. Nino's wife and daughters are almost like tourists in Sicily as the culture is so different from their urban Italian life. We get to meet Nino's relatives, an almost Italian version of the Brady Bunch.
Then Nino pays his respect to the influential Don Vincenzo and without realizing it has just stepped into the mafia's underworld. The Don helps Nino's father with a land purchase and Nino pledges his undying loyalty to him without really realizing what that might entail. We can see the Don has devious plans for him all the while he thinks of him as a benevolent benefactor. Then he is unwittingly sent to America to do a dirty deed that rivals Al Pacino's restaurant scene in The Godfather. It is an interesting character study of a good man who can be turned into the world of crime almost in the blink of an eye and shows the corrupting power of the mafia that seeps into people's pores as if by osmosis. He returns back to his family as if nothing has changed, though everything has. Can he ever be normal again after his mission? The closing shots would indicate that even the most good natured of people cannot escape evil.
Grade: B
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