Mean Streets
by Martin Scorsese (1973)
In the Little Italy neighborhood of New York, thirty-year-old Charlie dreams of making his way into the world of crime with the help of a mafia uncle, but he can’t give up either the dangerous company of Johnny Boy, a young troublemaker intolerant of any rules, or his love for his epileptic cousin Teresa.
Quote.
“Nobody takes a piece in chess. Nobody loses a castle. Nobody says a castle. Nobody says a casaa.”
(Charlie Cappa)
Charlie Cappa is nothing more than a good boy who didn’t make it. Young, ambitious, and eager to succeed thanks to his powerful uncle. His obsession with women and his predisposition to being the glue of a small circle of friends make him a real reference point and balance. And, for his part, Charlie knows that the Christian faith he tries so hard to cultivate cannot give him the answers he would like. So, he desperately seeks a way to atone for his sins by making himself useful to those he meets: but is it possible to end up in heaven when you live in the midst of hell? What can you do concretely to find redemption? Especially when your heart is engaged in a relationship that your powerful uncle doesn’t approve of and your friend Johnny Boy seems to be a mad mine ready to destroy everything you’re trying to build and drag you into the abyss with him?
Charlie Cappa is nothing more than a good boy who didn’t make it. Young, ambitious, and eager to succeed thanks to his powerful uncle. His obsession with women and his predisposition to being the glue of a small circle of friends make him a real reference point and balance. And, for his part, Charlie knows that the Christian faith he tries so hard to cultivate cannot give him the answers he would like. So, he desperately seeks a way to atone for his sins by making himself useful to those he meets: but is it possible to end up in heaven when you live in the midst of hell? What can you do concretely to find redemption? Especially when your heart is engaged in a relationship that your powerful uncle doesn’t approve of and your friend Johnny Boy seems to be a mad mine ready to destroy everything you’re trying to build and drag you into the abyss with him?
Finally, one cannot fail to mention the excellent acting of all the cast. Starting from Keitel in the role of the main protagonist, always on the edge between damnation and search for redemption, to his crazy and destructive friend Johnny Boy, a stunning and very young De Niro, passing through the very talented Amy Robinson in the role of the epileptic cousin. Mean Streets – Sunday in church, Monday in hell, is a film to be preferably seen in its original language.
