BBM at the movies - Donnie Brasco review

Donnie Brasco is based on the true story of Joe Pistone who was an undercover FBI
agent in the seventies assigned to infiltrate one of New York's mob families in order to
bring them down. During this time he becomes good friends with Lefty an aging mobster
who takes Donnie under his wing and becomes his mentor because Lefty knows that he
won't get a chance to make the step up to a main man anymore and so he uses Donnie to
bring a sense of purpose back into his life.
    Because of the time Donnie spent undercover (I can't remember exactly but it was a
number of years) he slowly finds himself becoming Donnie Brasco and living this second
life is playing havoc with his real life. He never sees his wife and three daughters and when
he does he and his wife always fight with each other which eventually results in his wife
Maggie (Anne Heche) asking for a divorce. This other side of the story means that Brasco
isn't your average gangster film as it offers interesting insights into Pistone's relationships
with both his wife and Lefty and the effects these have on him as a person.
    Pacino, although not lighting up the screen as in something like Scarface was still great
as Lefty and the time Johnny Depp spent researching his role with the real Joe Pistone
definitely paid off. Michael Madsen does what he does best, playing an all round nasty bad
guy and Bruno Kirby was alright I suppose. I thought that he was trying to play the Joe
Pesci role in the film though but failing miserably, maybe it was just his high pitched voice
that reminded me. (if you don't know who he is it's the gimpy officer in Good Morning
Vietnam who always takes Robin Williams off the air)
    It took me a while for me to get into the film but I enjoyed it when he started getting
deeper into the role of Donnie Brasco but I think that I will definitely need to watch it again
to fully appreciate it. So I will.