In America, we’re likely to see and judge Donnie Brasco (1997) as another Mob movie. Although that’s fair, it’s not what drives the movie. What drives the movie is suspense and more suspense. On the most basic level, we hope that the young undercover FBI agent known to the Mob as Donnie Basco will survive. The movie does a good job of making us care for the young agent, at least initially. He’s got a nice wife, three young daughters, and an important job to make the world a better place for all of us. But he is in with a bunch of wiseguys who blast rivals with shotguns and then butcher them—the cutting knife for you, the sawing knife for Donnie. And they are perpetually on the lookout for a rat. If that’s not bad enough, the guy in charge of looking for the rat is Donnie’s best buddy in the Mob, Lefty. His chances of survival are slim.
There is another level of suspense: we worry that the young agent is cracking and going over to the Mob. The salient sign of this is his marriage deterioration. He’s treating his wife as if he were a thug and she a moll. He’s losing patience with the FBI. His best friend is Lefty, a long-time Mafia worker with numerous hits under his belt. If Donnie goes back to the FBI, Lefty will immediately be whacked by the Mob because Lefty “vouched for” Donnie. Donnie has secretly snatched a satchel with $300,000 and said that the cops got it. At one point, he tells his wife that he has gone over to the Mob. At the same time, however, he is thinking of using his bag of loot to buy Lefty a yacht so that when Donnie goes back to the FBI, Lefty can escape the Mafia hit.
Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral; Enchanted April) brings his talent for character studies to the Mafia. Al Pacino as Lefty makes you care about the washed up hitman. Johnny Depp as Donnie rivets you to the screen with his inner torment.