Black Mass

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Movie
German title Black Mass
Original title Black Mass
Black Mass (Film) Logo.png
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2015
length 122 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Scott Cooper
script Mark Mallouk ,
Jez Butterworth
production John Lesher ,
Brian Oliver ,
Scott Cooper,
Patrick McCormick ,
Tyler Thompson
music Tom Holkenborg
camera Masanobu Takayanagi
cut David Rosenbloom
occupation

Black Mass (Alternative title: Black Mass - Das Syndikat ) is a 2015 American film about the life of gangster James J. Bulger, directed by Scott Cooper, starring Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton . It premiered on September 4, 2015 and was released in theaters in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland on October 15, 2015, and one day later in Austria.

action

The film begins with former confidants of "Whitey" Bulger and members of the Winter Hill Gang testifying before the FBI in order to receive mitigation as key witnesses . Irish-born James "Whitey" Bulger (also Jimmy) is the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, a smaller criminal gang that made money from drug trafficking, extortion, gambling, protection money, kidnapping and murder in southern Boston in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The gang acts with great brutality and uncompromising attitude against adversaries (also internally) and rivals the Italian mafia La Cosa Nostra in northern Boston . However, Bulger, who has slightly psychopathic traits, is respected and liked among the citizens of the socially disadvantaged part of Boston. At the same time, Bulger is a caring family man who raises a son with his wife. His younger brother William "Billy" Bulger is a successful politician in the state of Massachusetts.

FBI employee John Connolly grew up with the Bulger brothers in Boston and is close to William Bulger. The aim of the FBI in Boston is to fight the mafia, led by the Angiulo clan. For this, Connolly makes a pact with "Whitey" Bulger. In return for information about the Italian Mafia, Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang are left alone by the FBI if they don't commit murders. Bulger senses his chance to use the FBI so that it can take action against the warring mafia. This allows the Winter Hill Gang to consolidate and expand its influence in Boston.

Bulger's son suddenly fell ill with Reye's syndrome , was initially in a vegetative state, and eventually died. The loss of his son divides his relationship with his wife. Bulger's mother also dies later. The loss of his two loved ones increases Bulger's bitterness.

The Winter Hill Gang now has contacts in Florida and is involved in betting businesses. There they eventually commit a murder in order to maintain influence and profit sharing. The FBI in Boston receives information about the activities in Florida, but Connolly deliberately does not take the information seriously and can also convince colleagues to keep it undercover. On the one hand, to keep Bulger as a contact person and, on the other hand, to secure his own reputation in the FBI.

The FBI finally succeeds in arresting long-wanted mafiosi from the Angiulo clan, which is later celebrated by Connolly and the Winter Hill gang. Connolly gets deeply involved in the gang's machinations and prevents an investigation into which Bulger is known (including murder). Connolly himself benefits from the contact with Bulger and has also been promoted to the FBI due to the successes against the Mafia.

The new prosecutor Wyshak finally accelerates the investigation against Bulger. It turns out that alleged information from Bulger to the FBI was concocted by Connolly in order to keep Bulger as an informant under the protection of the FBI.

A colleague from Connolly makes Bulger's status as an FBI informant public. Connolly himself is arrested by the FBI. Bulger is able to flee Boston while his accomplices are also arrested, but given their cooperation with the authorities, they receive reduced sentences. Bulger cannot be caught until 2011. Connolly and Bulger received very heavy sentences.

background

The film adaptation of the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill was promoted for years (approx. 2009 to 2013) by Jim Sheridan , who at times also directed. In addition to them, Jez Butterworth and Mark Mallouk, Russell Gewirtz, Scott Cooper and Nye Heron also worked on the script. It was previously considered to film the book with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck . In 2006 another attempt by Brian Oliver was not pursued because of the success of Departed , which has a very similar theme. After Jim Sheridan, Barry Levinson was scheduled to direct.

The film was shown out of competition on September 4, 2015 at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival .

criticism

On Rotten Tomatoes , the film was rated 75% positive based on 234 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7 / 10. On Metacritic , 68% of 43 reviews are positive. The film is listed on IMDb.com with a rating of 6.9 / 10, based on 153,255 ratings (as of January 30, 2019).

The film service judged that the “excellently cast genre film revolves around a“ pact with the devil ”and focuses less on action elements than on multi-layered portraits of the people involved, around the fatal web of unscrupulousness on the one hand and misunderstood solidarity and sheer greed on the other to x-ray the other side ”.

Cinema wrote that Johnny Depp managed to "blend into his role beyond recognition," and that he played "with terrifying intensity." Scott Cooper shows Bulger as a "loyal family man who lives in simple circumstances", the film is "a subtle, patiently staged character study in which violence only rarely, but then all the more brutally breaks out".

On the other hand, Black Mass was rated only 2 out of 5 stars on epd Film . Since the direction and script are only interested in the “purely factual-biographical” level, the “actually uncanny external transformation” by Johnny Depp appears “like a lost labor of love”, especially since the actor does not have the opportunity to “add dimensions to his character behind the mask to lend". The “top-class” male ensemble was praised, especially Joel Edgerton, whose role of an “FBI agent corrupted by his own ambition” allowed more “dramatic complexity” than Depp's “one-dimensional criminal”.

Prisma in turn awarded 5 out of 5 possible stars. In addition to the “great staging”, Johnny Depp was particularly emphasized, who played “perhaps the best role of his life”. He embodies the gangster "with all the coldness and lack of emotion, so that you shudder at the mere sight of him", but at the same time he spices "Bulger's persona with so much cleverness and black humor that you are torn which side you are should beat ".

Carsten Baumgardt rated Black Mass in his criticism of film releases with 3.5 out of 5 stars and said that the film impressed “more with the consistently dark, washed-out gray tones of cameraman Masanobu Takayanagi [...] than with narrative sophistication”. Depp he gives his character a "psychopathic, ice-cold danger" without making them "the typical film gang boss". Edgerton, as a “jovial FBI agent”, represents the opposite pole to the “aloof criminal”, Benedict Cumberbatch, as Bulger's younger brother, is “more in the background”, but the fact that he is “as a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts on the other side of the Law ”, the common scenes of the brothers a“ delightful ambiguity ”.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Black Mass . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2015 (PDF; test number: 154 234 K).
  2. ↑ a b Alex Billington: Jim Sheridan Developing Project About FBI Informant Whitey Bulger. firstshowing.net, January 14, 2009
  3. ^ A b Justin Kroll: Johnny Depp picks next two pics. In: Variety. Variety Media, LLC, February 27, 2013, accessed September 7, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Scott Foundas: Venice Film Review: Johnny Depp in 'Black Mass'. In: Yahoo Movies. September 4, 2015, accessed on September 5, 2015 (eng).
  5. ↑ Black Mass (2015): Full Credits. In: TCM.com. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc., accessed September 5, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Mark Shanahan, Meredith Goldstein: 'Black Mass' appeal. In: Boston.com. Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC, June 25, 2011, accessed September 5, 2015 .
  7. ^ Black Mass (2015). In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 1, 2016 .
  8. ^ Black Mass (2015). In: Metacritic. Accessed August 29, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Black Mass. Filmdienst , 21/2015, accessed on October 13, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Black Mass. Cinema , accessed August 29, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Black Mass. epd film , accessed on August 29, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Black Mass. Prism , accessed September 1, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Black Mass. Film releases , accessed August 29, 2016 .