Il traditore

Innerhalb der Cosa Nostra bekleidete Tommaso Buscetta einen eher mittleren Rang; Mitte der 1980er Jahre brach er allerdings die Omertà, begann mit Richter Giovanni Falcone zusammenzuarbeiten und stieg auf zum Kronzeugen der Justiz in einem Prozess, der Geschichte schrieb: Buscettas Aussagen führten zur Verhaftung und Verurteilung Hunderter Mafiosi. Die Biografie dieses Helden/Verräters verbindet Bellocchio mit dem Gerichtsdrama und präpariert ebenso nüchtern wie akribisch die Bestialität einer Organisation heraus, die für die Zivilgesellschaft nichts als Verachtung übrig hat. Ein heilsames Korrektiv zur naiven Coolness glorifizierender Gangstermovies. (Alexandra Seitz)

With the exception of the Western, there is perhaps no classical genre in cinema that relies as much on facial expression as the gangster film. Marco Bellocchio, whose cinema has always taken surprising turns, is a great explorer of the human face. In the opening minutes of this semi-biopic of former Mafioso Tommaso Buscetta (a high-ranking Don who became an informant for the authorities), he orchestrates an exceptional shot-reverse-shot-ballet of close-ups. In typically Sicilian faces, the director finds both the drama and the farce in what he is about to tell.
The film juxtaposes the beautiful, idealistic, and virulent world of gangsters so often depicted by American films with the harsh, absurd, and sometimes ridiculous reality of a macho culture on the verge of breaking down. It’s quite a heavy blow for those who believed in the alleged honor of the Cosa Nostra to see it become the Mafia. Yet with Bellocchio being typically alert to what’s going on in his country, he shows that it’s an even harsher blow to realize that what once was the Mafia has become the government. Especially since the Mafia is so hard to get rid of, as the film repeatedly and hauntingly shows.
(Patrick Holzapfel)