Al Pacino  : Benjamin « Lefty » Ruggiero

*

*

*

La critique de James Berardinelli (fin)
                                                                                
Although Donnie Brasco is set against a backdrop of crime and violence (and Newell doesn't shrink from showing these elements, although he's more restrained than a Scorsese might be), it, like many better gangster films, is really about family and relationships. Lefty and Joe have a surrogate father/son bond that gradually supersedes all other attachments in either of their lives. As Lefty says at one point, "[The mob] is my family, even more than my [real] family." It's because Donnie Brasco focuses on characters and relationships that it makes for compelling viewing.

Although the film contains many of the usual mob cliches and stock secondary characters, these don't detract much from the viewer's enjoyment. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but many "based on real events" motion pictures aren't nearly as well-executed or involving as Donnie Brasco. The film has all the right little touches to be believable, such as Lefty's fascinating lesson to his protege about how to dress, act, and speak to be respected in wiseguy circles. Donnie Brasco takes us into a world that the movies frequently open to us, but somehow this trip seems more real and less glamorized than most. The result is a satisfying film going experience.