The Irishman

“Women and Black characters are even more diminished in The Irishman than in Martin Scorsese’s previous gangster films.”

Title: The Irishman (2019)
Director: Martin Scorsese 👨🏼🇺🇸
Write: Steven Zaillian 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Murtada Elfadl 👨🏽🇸🇩🇺🇸🌈

Technical: 4/5

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman tells a story about moral decay and gangland infiltration into American society. In adapting Charles Brandt’s non-fiction book, I Heard You Paint Houses, Scorsese and screenwriter Steve Zaillian leverage a mobster character study to provide commentary on the intersection of politics, unions, and organized crime in the United States from the 1950s to 1970s.

The book chronicles the life of alleged mafia hitman Frank Sheeran (played by Robert De Niro) and his claims of inside knowledge about several crime families. By retaining this wide scope, The Irishman spends three and a half hours portraying a myriad of plots through a large cast. Impressively, it manages to keep audiences engaged throughout.

Perhaps Scorsese’s familiarity and knowledge of the mafia world, evidenced by his previous movies GoodFellas (1990) and Casino (1995), provides The Irishman with deep enough characters and a true-to-life world that helps engross its viewers. He astutely captures how these wise guys talk—their cadences and the particular words they use, lorded out as threats, intimidation, and even death sentences. Audiences will enjoy watching De Niro, Al Pacino (as infamous union leader Jimmy Hoffa, who mysteriously disappeared in 1975), and Joe Pesci (as mobster Russell Bufalino), badger, menace, and one up each other. Their roles fit them like a glove, with Pacino in particular owning the flashiest part which he plays to the hilt.

De Niro gets to play more reflective tones, particularly as Sheeran ages and looks back on what his life has wrought. His subtle and moving performance vindicates the decision to make older actors play younger versions of their characters, through the aid of special effects. After all, a long life of experience provides the gravitas—and pathos—needed to deliver the treatise on aging masculinity that the last hour of the film becomes. Yet de-aging technology cannot hide how an older body moves, hampering De Niro’s performance as the younger Sheeran during the few action scenes he shoulders.

While exciting to watch in the moment, especially as the movie hurtles towards its denouement, The Irishman rehashes the same motifs that have concerned Scorsese for decades. In particular, the movie feels like a retread of GoodFellas as it repeats the same style, rhythm, voice-over narration, and even plot points. However, the curiosity factor of exploring one of history’s unsolved conundrums—whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa?—coupled with appealing performances and the final hour’s exploration of declining machismo makes this film essential viewing within Scorsese’s filmography.

Gender: 2/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

The women in The Irishman exist as wives, mistresses, and daughters—yet they have no impact on the story beyond set dressing. Not only does the film fail the Bechdel test, its female characters smoke more than they talk. Literally, the introduction of the wives of Sheeran and Bufalino include a joke about how many smoking stops they need to take on the drive from Pennsylvania to Michigan, a road trip that acts as the film’s framing device.

The narrative finds room for only one important female character: Sheeran’s daughter, Peggy (played by Lucy Gallina in her scenes as a child and Anna Paquin as an adult). Yet her character still revolves around a man; specifically, she spends her life in fear after witnessing her father beat up a guy in her defense. Neither Gallina nor Paquin are given much space to portray their inner turmoil, restricted to silent, furtive glances. I kept expecting the friction between Peggy and her father to come to a head as the film progressed, especially as Sheeran expresses remorse in his old age and repeatedly seeks forgiveness from his daughter, who had stopped talking to him years ago. Because what would be the point of casting Oscar-winner Paquin if not to benefit from her acting chops? Alas, the opportunity never comes to fruition.

Race: 1/5

It might be understandable that a film set in this time period, and based on the recollections of a white man born in the 1920s, would have no characters of color except for a handful in the background and none with any significant lines of dialogue.

However, The Irishman didn’t need to embrace stereotypes about marginalized people as either villains or “the help.” Two Black men briefly appear; one as a killer of a Hoffa associate and the other as Sheeran’s deferential driver. In addition, we see a walk-on by Orange is the New Black’s Dascha Polanco, who is Dominican American. She appears as a nurse offering Sheeran some solace in his old age. Not nearly enough.

Mediaversity Grade: D 2.33/5

Scorsese makes films about what he knows best: Americana and traditional performances of masculinity. And that’s all well and good. However, it might be time to dig deeper into the effects of violent crime, especially on the families of the perpetrators of this violence.

Technically impressive, well-told, and superbly acted, The Irishman ultimately wastes a golden opportunity to further enhance its story with a deeper exploration of its female characters. The script underutilizes one of its main narrative elements: the relationship between Sheeran and his daughter. Instead, Scorsese delivers another classic mobster movie. Yes, it feels deeper and more expansive than either GoodFellas or Casino, but that depth only applies to older white men; women and Black characters remain inconsequential and, in fact, even more diminished than in his previous films. Actresses like Lorraine Bracco and Sharon Stone won awards and accolades for Goodfellas and Casino. Here, Anna Paquin barely speaks a dozen words.

Like The Irishman? Try these other gangster movies.

Grade: DLiNovember 1, 2019