The stoicism of the lead character Frank Sheeran, played with expert ease by Robert De Niro, was the most stand-out feature of The Irishman for me. It might have something to do with my very own and most unexpected Scorsese experience last summer; which I now see as a precursor to the film. It so happened that I attended University of Oxford’s Encaenia ceremony, which among other things, was conferring him with a lifetime achievement award. This was actually the sole reason I wanted to attend the function.
Rushing to the event minutes before it began I took the nearest place I could find, which had otherwise been reserved for someone else. If I had arrived any bit earlier, my seating situation would have been different. But it was sheer luck, because who came and sat next to me? You guessed it, the man himself. In any other scenario, I would have taken no time to gush praises immediately to someone whose work I have admired a lot over the years. But the formality of the ceremony restrained my natural exuberance and I had to sit next to Scorsese with my heart in my mouth. The unexpected joy of the moment lives in me even now as does the absolute emotional containment it called for. And that, is the reference I am making to stoicism.
A stoic’s reaction to all heights of happiness and depths of despair are kept to the bare minimum, and in this particular story appears to be the only way the lead character can survive, what with all the twists and turns he sees and even initiates through his life. Based on the life of an actual American labour union official, Frank Sheeran or the Irishman, the film is a piece of history that unravels the nexus of crime, business, labour and politics. It traces his journey from being a truck driver committing petty thefts to an assassin for the mafia as also a labour union official.
De Niro is pitch perfect for the role as someone who conveys his motivations, like love for his family, loyalty to his people and sense of absolute duty, through his actions. The character is shown as a rich shade of grey rather than the black we as the audience would be tempted to paint him with. Bringing out the humanity of an otherwise very questionable individual is clearly is one of the successes of the film. But it is Al Pacino as the popular labour union leader, Jimmy Hoffa, who really steals the show, when he comes out in full force in second half of the film. He’s shown to be so persistently intractable that it turns out to be his one tragic flaw. Like a nurse Sheeran talks to about Hoffa, much after the latter’s time, I had no idea who he was in American history but it is indeed an insightful learning.
As someone who got onto the Scorsese bandwagon only in the 2000s, starting from which time he made a spate of unforgettable films with Leonardo DiCaprio like Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and most recently The Wolf of Wall Street; I was most keen to watch The Irishman not just because it was yet another Scorsese treat, but also because it was a re-collaboration with actors from a more distant past. The only early film of Scrorsese’s that I have watched is Taxi Driver with De Niro, on Netflix a few years ago. And I was amazed at its startling contemporary relevance. I have an entire review on it (it’s linked in a facebook posts for anyone with the patience to scroll through). So obviously, the build-up in curiosity.
Did I like The Irishman as much as his DiCaprio collaborations? I’m not sure, for the simple reason that it’s somewhat different from what I have come to expect of Scorsese. But I am better off for watching it, as with all of his films. The film screams Scorsese, and for some of us that in itself worth its while.
The film pretty much ends with the last of The Irishman’s life, with the song “In the still of the night” (it also starts with it).It’s quite poignant really, for a man who got so much from life and yet has lost so much, especially the family he wanted to provide for and protect. In what I can only assume is a co-incidence, the song also features in the 1990s romantic hit Dirty Dancing at, what I believe, was a mushy moment. Much like U2’s big hit With or Without You, which I wrote about a few months ago in the context of US TV series The Americans (scroll and you shall find), I was once again struck by how the context of a song can change its meaning completely. But what’s a good movie that doesn’t leave you thinking much after you have exited the theatre?
The song is linked below
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