Movie review

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Movie Review: Goodfellas
Goodfellas is one of the most coordinated mob films that explicitly describes the lifestyle of gangsters and their relationship to the world. The film has been described as the best mob movie ever to be created because of how the producer uses various mechanisms to bring the characters closer to the people. The audience can connect with this movie right from the start where Henry confesses of his long-term desire to belong to a gang. However, as the movie progresses, the producer builds up the character of Henry from that of a joyful guy to that of a depressed man who has lost everything he held dear to his life because of his involved in a mob (Walsh 69). The sense of belonging offered in the gang only lasts for a while, and issues begin to arise when he begins to understand the real lifestyle of mob members. Henry helps Jimmy and Tommy burry the body of a person whom Jimmy had murdered during a dispute. The two seem very cold about it, but Henry shows a bit of shock, an indication that his conscious is not fully dead and the violent and merciless lifestyle of the gang members is not what he expected. As the movie develops, the audience and Henry begin to lose interest in the lifestyle of gangsters, hence a positive contribution to the society (Pileggi 53). The movie uses various schemes and mechanism to show the audience the futility of criminal lifestyle.
The movie is centered on the lifestyle of Henry who desires to work in a gang and luckily, he gets absorbed into a local mob.

The life is okay as the gangsters live like kings in the society. They have no rules to follow expect those that they have made to maintain peace between them and the rest of the gangs operating in the area. The gang members spend time in clubs getting entertained by women as a means of unwinding. In the process, Henry meets a woman named Karen whom she later marries. Karen is reluctant to accept Henry’s proposal, but his affluent status lures her in, and she becomes part of his criminal life. At some point when Henry is arrested and jailed for four years, Karen smuggles drugs to him so that he can sell amongst his inmates (Hill 108). The glorious lifestyle of the gang does not last long. The downfall starts with the arrest followed by various betrayals from each other leading to the death and imprisonment of many of the members. Henry enrolls for witness protection program when he realizes that his life is in danger and rats out the rest of his crew including their leader. He has no idea how to live a normal life because he never learned to do anything else but crime. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Henry later was arrested for drug trafficking.
The movie uses good camera angles to follow the lifestyle of Henry and other gang members closely. The effect allows the quick transition from one scene to another without leaving people with an empty stage. Additionally, the producer uses the kinetic disconnection approach to main interchange scenes with supportive scenes that are introduced vaguely. This approach of building up the story limits the complication of the movie and gives the audience time to reflect on the important aspects of the movie. Further, the effect makes the movie an easy follow because of the refreshing light scenes. Popular music is also an effect that Scorsese uses to show the audience the transition of characters from one stage to another. For instance, the use of popular music in the movie complements the transition of Henrys’ lifestyle from that of a man selling stolen cigarettes to a disobedient fellow who is selling cocaine against the advice of his boss (Deitche and Mannion 69). He has grown from a soft, fearful man to an individual guided by a sense of duty. His selling of cocaine is mandatory to him because he has to support his family. At this point, Henry is starting to break free from the bondage of belonging to a gang and the subsequent events show a complete falling apart of the mob.
The mood of the movie has also served to make the production a success and to place the movie at an elated place as the standard for other gang films. The movie is not a straightforward one because the producer does not focus much on building the plot. Rather, the movie is focused on the closing of walls and the guilty feeling of some of the characters who think they deserve the predicaments coming their way. Additionally, the producer uses contrast to this effect of guilty by presenting a sense of duty as the driving force for these characters. For instance, Henry justifies his selling of the cocaine because he has to take care of his family (Pileggi 125). However, the sense of duty does not protect the characters from the fate that awaits them.
The producer uses a slow expansion process to make the movie a success. New characters are introduced in the movie in a casual manner, which helps to expand the movie to a new level. Moreover, the producer develops the characters slows allowing the audience to connect with them in a deeper way. Watching the character grow from one stage of life is a better way of allowing the character to relate to the audience in comparison to simply narrating to the audience who the character is and his role in the movie. For instance, the character of Jimmy, Paul, Conway, and Tommy are developed over a period of thirty years (Walsh 121). The characters transit from the moment of unchallenged power, decline season, and finally betrayal. Further, at the end of the movie, the producer tries to get into the head of Henry and analyses the life of the character in a single day. The narration is so close to the real thing because Scorsese being the great movie producer he is, has mastered the art of taking the personality of a character.
Goodfellas is a great crime movie and the best that has ever been produced. The movie uses different effects to connect with the audience and to analyze the lifestyles of gangsters in a very authentic way. The lack of empathy and the betrayal shown by the crew of the mob is a true representation of the crime world. Through these effects, Scorsese was able to pass an ideal lesson to the society that crime leads to destruction regardless of how affluent the gang members might try to portray it. Henry is an ideal embodiment of that situation because he acts all happy when hanging out with his fellow mob members but shivers a little at the pilling of bodies in their wake.

Works Cited
Deitche, Scott M., and James Mannion. The everything Mafia book: true-life accounts of legendary figures, infamous crime families, and nefarious events. Avon, Mass. Newton Abbot: Adams Media David & Charles distributor, 2009. Print.
Hill, Henry. Gangsters and goodfellas: the mob, witness protection, and life on the run. New York Lancaster: M Evans Gazelle Drake Academic distributor, 2011. Print.
Pileggi, Nicholas. GoodFellas. London: Bloomsbury, 2005. Print.
Walsh, George S. Screening the Mafia: masculinity, ethnicity, and mobsters from the Godfather to the Sopranos. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co, 2010. Print.