Goodfellas Paper
Martin Scorsese does an exquisite job of making this film real. When Henry is still young, his innocence is displayed so subtly, but with profound clarity. The same can be said for all the scenes in the movie. The characters often seem to live in a different world, with their frequent killings and the absence of emotion that they display. Then all of a sudden, you'll find yourself identifying with the character, and they will seem so classically human. The Gangster, as Robert Warshow puts it, is a “quintessential 'tragic hero', a character whose very nature and deeds ultimately condemn them to a short and fruitless existence, outside of the boundaries of normal society”. The Gangster's place within cinema is …show more content…
As the story evolved, Henry and his gang began to get involved in areas that the mob did not approve of in any way – drug dealing. To make matters worse, Henry’s life started to spiral out of control as he started to “get high on his own supply” and takes on several mistresses, not to mention that he became an accomplice to Tommy’s murder of an untouchable, "made" man.[4] It soon became apparent that the once gratifying and romanticized life that Henry aspired to live as a child was tumbling down around him, so much to the point that he couldn’t trust those that were closest to