Donnie Brasco

First of all. I couldn't look at Johnny Depp with that moustache without thinking of Freddie Mercury. Nice mo', Johnny. No wonder people were spreading rumours that Johnny would play Freddie in a Queen movie.

Anyway, Donnie Brasco. I really like it. Al Pacino and Depp work so beautifully together, and the characters were actually quite fascinating. I am always especially intrigued by films that are based on a real person's life, and this one was no exception. What a life. I am amazed at the fact that the actors and director got to meet with Joe Pistone himself, and meet with quite a few real mafia men, despite the fact that Pistone still has an open contract on his head. That blows me away. Imagine meeting with a guy, and then later meeting with the very people who want to kill him, and would do anything to find out where he is now. I assume they wouldn't have told the actors the family's new name or where they lived etc, so they wouldn't be in danger, but still. What an experience.

The acting from all players is natural and very watchable. The mafia guys are portrayed in such a way as to make the audience feel they are just ordinary men, in a particular line of work, oding the best they can - but all with supreme egos and a level of everyday worry that most ordinary folk don't deal with. I was surprised by how much sympathy I found myself feeling for Pacino's character, Leftie, and especially all the other, somewhat lower-down mafia men. By the end of the film I was really conflicted; wanting Pistone to get back to his normal life, but also wanting Brasco to succeed and impress his new colleagues.

That is why real stories fascinate me so much - these people are/were real people, and their lives were so complicated and conflicted and just *real*. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little life and it's easy to forget that other people out there have such different experiences. I guess that's why I love acting; I love exploring another person's existence, experiencing snippets of new and very different experiences.

Anyway, blah blah. Not going to get philosophical about it.

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