MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA

Mafia in Italian Cinema

Director and actors of the movie

The Traitor

The traitor delivers an accurate story of Tommaso Buscetta, the man has been credited

with bringing down the Cosa nostra. Throughout the early 1980s, there was a major war that

raged between the Sicilian mafia leadership over the heroin business; “Tommaso Buscetta,

decided to flee and hide in Brazil”1. In his hometown, scores were settled, with Buscetta

watching from far away as his sons along with the sibling being murdered in Palermo, and he

was sure that he was next. When he was detained and handed over to Italy by the Brazilian law

enforcement agency, Buscetta decided that was going to alter the whole lot for the mafia: he

decided to work with Judge Giovanni Falcone then be disloyal to the undying oath he assured the

Cosa Nostra2.

“The movie was directed by Marco Bellocchio, whose movie from the 1980s henceforth

has focused on coming to terms with the personal as well as politically turbulent past”3. He has

focused on the question of the ideologies as well as moral issues and fought to ensure he has

made sense of the motives of his characters. His films have sought to create a rich, fascinating as

well as human investigation of the Italian life, both modern as well as historical4.

The actors
The actors include Pierfrancesco Favino, who acts as Tommaso Buscetta. He was born in

the year 1969 and graduated from the Silvio D'Amico acting academy in Rome and is considered

1
Sonyclassics. The Traito. 2020
2
Ibid
3
Ibid
4
Ibid
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
2

one of the most significant and appreciated European actors. “The other actors include Maria

Fernanda Candido, acting as Cristina Buscetta, who is a Brazilian actress who has an extensive

career in theatre, film, and television. Pippo Calo is a stage actor by training, completed his

studies at the Scuola di Teatro Teates and took part in workshops that were run by Guiliano

Vasilico, Danio Manfredini among others.”5

A short plot of the movie

From TV to Hollywood, there has not been a shortage of mafia movies; the traitor by

Macro Bellocchio has served to curve out its explicit niche. The behind the mafia dramas that

have been depicted by the movie of Sicily's real-life men of honor who were brought to justice in

the mid-1980s as well as the 1990s seeks to be realistic instead of common eye-popping, an

attribute that makes the movie a bit flat at times. Despite lacking the mafia money scenes, the

movie has presented one of the most revealing depictions of the Cosa Nostra on film6.

The dark dealing involved in the Sicilian mafia, who transitioned from sale of contraband

cigarettes to the billion-dollar heroin industry changed over the year, with the Traitor

demonstrating that there is little honor that has been left among gangster men of honor7. The

theme inevitably ends up overlapping with the earlier films on the investigating magistrate

Giovanni Falcone who ends up brutally assassinated and the ruthless boss Toto Riina. It is

however evident that the depth, as well as the rage of the movie besides the handsome

production and the huge cast and locations in Sicily, US, Rome, and Brazil, served to draw

audiences beyond Italy8.

5
Sonyclassics. The Traito. 2020
6
Ibid
7
History. The Mafia in Popular Culture. 2009.
8
History. The Mafia in Popular Culture. 2009.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
3

Do you think the cinema fights Mafia?

I do not thing that cinema fights mafia. It is not possible to identify a member of the

mafia in the streets. Irrespective of whether one is in Sicily, Naples, London, Paris, or even

Mexico City, it is impossible to identify a member of a crime syndicate form the person standing

next to them. The underlying assertion is that the mafia has always looked explicitly the same as

their law-abiding neighbors. The code of silence or Omerta comes precisely from this assertion,

whereby other than the fear of retaliation, Omerta originates from a natural commitment not to

betray your people9.

In the year 2009, Silvio Berlusconi asserted that he found the man who was making the

new serial of la piovra/ the octopus as well as the ones who writes books relating to the mafia

that depict the Italian society in a bad light, he swore he would throttle him10. While the choice

words that were used could be deemed unfortunate, it is an indication of how cinemas have had

an adverse influence when it comes to enlightening the society about the mafia. The underlying

position is that the media has served to glorify the life of mafia at the expense of the harmful

effect they have had on society11.

Italy has had the most dangerous and powerful mafia globally in addition to the fact that

it is also the best place to tell stories about the mafia. The American film directors have sought to

glamorize the mafia, demonstrating their titles as being very captivating as well as swift-witted

that one would end up imaging they could invite them for dinner. The glamorized sheen of the

mafia in American film could be occasioned by the fact that the mafia has failed to muzzle much

power in the US as compared to the situation in Italy, in addition to the fact that less people have

9
Hasted, Nick. The Hollywood Mafia: What Martin Scorsese has always got wrong about life in the Mob. 2019.
10
Ibid
11
Green, Willow. PROMOTION: A history of Mafia in the movies. 2019.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
4

died and business being wrecked by the systematized crime syndicates12. This is not the situation

in Italy whereby the mafias have been as powerful as well as dangerous as ever13. The menace

orchestrated by the mafia is depicted in the Italian film besides TV series that have extensively

cast gangsters in a deleterious depiction.

The situation has however changed, following the evident shift by the Italian media

whereby the Italian films, as well as TV shows, have started glorifying criminality, portraying

and crafting Mafioso as alluring antiheroes14. Italian films between 1960 and 1970 had gangsters

being portrayed as charmless besides shady. In the widespread Italian topics in 1990s as well as

2000s, including the Placido Rizzotto and hundred steps they have depicted the mafia as

repulsive and vicious villains15.

The concerning aspect, however, is that this trend started changing in the 21st century. In

the year 2005, filmmaker Michele Placido created the “romanzo criminale” which is a movie

addressing roman gangsters featuring a cast made of young good-looking mobsters16. In the

recent past, good looking and sympathetic criminals have been increased in the Italian TV as the

TV shows Gomorrah while classy, teenage criminals have continued to inhabit Claudio

Giovannesi's Piranhas of 2019.

The most recent film by Bellocchio "the traitor" is seen to be the epitome of this

disconcerting trend. The film which was released in the US on the 31st of January was

additionally on Italy's compliance for the best intercontinental feature movie during the film
12
Ahamd, Nizar, Shagufta Shah, and Farman Ullah. "Sociological analysis of mass media role in promotion of mob
violence (A case study of two selected cities of khyber pakhtunkhwa)." Pakistan Journal of Criminology 6, no. 2
(2014): 23.
13
Hasted, Nick. The Hollywood Mafia: What Martin Scorsese has always got wrong about life in the Mob. 2019.
14
Ibid
15
Ibid
16
Green, Willow. PROMOTION: A history of Mafia in the movies. 2019. 2020
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
5

awards. At the epicenter of the movie is the ex-gangster Tommaso Buscetta which has been

acted by the good-looking Piefrancesco Favico who is at times known as the "Italian George

Clooney." “The film is a narration of Buscetta, provided vital information concerning the

innermost working of the gang with Italian forces in the early 1980s, through his exposés, the

“maxi trails” were attained and completed in 1987 with 342 convictions17”.

Buscetta is nonetheless perceived with suspicion by most Italians and up-to-date, his

inclusions for handing over proof to the state have been shrouded in enigma. In Italy, he is barely

perceived as an emissary for those against the mafia cause, yet in "the traitor", he is made a hero.

Do you think that cinema desensitizes the audience to social issues and violence?

Yes, I believe that the media has played an integral role in desensitizing the audience to

social issues as well as violence that has slowly become a common issue in society. It follows

that watching media characters that tend to behave violently tends to prompt a practice of

observational learning whereby a novel reasoning as well as behavior of promotion of violence

and reduction to sensitivity to social evils becomes apparent18. The desensitization that is

promoted via these films in cinema is seen in the gradual reduction in a viewer's sensitivity and

receptiveness to arousal provoking inducement because of the recurrent exposure to these acts in

the cinema19. The cinema has contributed to desensitization via the reducing aspect of anxious

arousal.

17
Hasted, Nick. The Hollywood Mafia: What Martin Scorsese has always got wrong about life in the Mob. 2019.
18
Ahamd, Nizar, Shagufta Shah, and Farman Ullah. "Sociological analysis of mass media role in promotion of mob
violence (A case study of two selected cities of khyber pakhtunkhwa)." Pakistan Journal of Criminology 6, no. 2
(2014): 23.

19
Ramos, Raul A., Christopher J. Ferguson, Kelly Frailing, and Maria Romero-Ramirez. "Comfortably numb or just
yet another movie? Media violence exposure does not reduce viewer empathy for victims of real violence among
primarily Hispanic viewers." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2, no. 1 (2013): 2.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
6

Studies demonstrate that in due course, constant acquaintance with cinema violence tends

to diminish apprehensive stimulation in response to shows that are characterized by violence and

social evils. Research has established that the more an individual is exposed to violent television

portrayals, the less expressively receptive they are too violent inducements besides diminished

empathy they demonstrate for the sufferers of violence and social evils in the real world20.

Overall, the repetitions of violence in the cinemas tend to make people jaded when it

comes to issues of violence. The reaction to these cases becomes less prominent since views of

the cinemas have become used to seeing blood, explosions and guts constantly. Desensitization

is assessed by both the attitudinal as well as psychological reactions21. Following the passage of

time after viewing the violent content, people end up becoming less reactive to the violent scenes

and further become less sympathetic towards the injured or victims of violence. 22The viewers

watching TV for prolonged periods become less concerned with individuals who are victims of

violence. Further, incidences of heavy exposure to violent content repeatedly lead to the anxiety

and aggressive tendencies among people changing into desensitization. Once an individual has

watched violent content, the viewer ends up reducing their aggression and feeling less concerned

or distressed towards occurrences or victims of the different incidences. Long term exposure to

the media leads to a situation whereby the viewer becomes prone to accepting these incidences

and the cases of real-life violence23. The viewer, therefore, becomes tolerant to the violence that

is existent in society and adopting the consideration that violence is part of the society.

20
Timmer, Joel. "Restricting Portrayals of Film Violence to Reduce the Likelihood of Negative Effects in Viewers: Did
the Framers of the Motion Picture Production Code Get It Right?." Journal of Popular Film & Television 39, no. 1
(2011): 29-36.
21
Bartsch, Anne, and Marie-Louise Mares. "Making sense of violence: Perceived meaningfulness as a predictor of
audience interest in violent media content." Journal of Communication 64, no. 5 (2014): 956-976.
22
Ibid
23
Ferguson, Christopher J. "Does media violence predict societal violence? It depends on what you look at and
when." Journal of Communication 65, no. 1 (2015): E1-E22.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
7

Observational learning

According to 24Majority of the acknowledged social cognitive models, an individuals'

social behavior tends to be organized to a huge degree by the underlying interaction of the

present situation within the individual's emotive position, their perception of the word, normative

principles of what is deemed apposite besides scripts of social conduct that have been learned. In

the course of the early, middle as well as late stages of development, people encode in-memory

social scripts that will be guiding behaviors via observation of the immediate family and the

media. Further, the observed behaviors tend to be imitated long after they have been observed25.

For instance, widespread observation of atrocities has been demonstrated a predisposition in an

individual's world schema towards associating aggression to the actions of others. These

attributions end up increasing the possibility of the individuals behaving belligerently and as

viewers developed, the normative tendencies relating to what societal manners are deemed

correct becomes preserved and starts acting as sifters to curtail the unsuitable social tendencies26.

Desensitization

Protracted socialization attributes of cinemas are most likely increased by how mass

media and cinemas impact emotions. Recurring exposure to the expressively activating cinemas

can result in the adaptation of some normal emotive reactions27. The undesirable emotions that

are felt or observed spontaneously by viewers in reaction to a specific gory scene tend to wane in

force following numerous exposures28. For instance, amplified perspiration, heart rate as well as

self-indications of uneasiness commonly associate scenes with blood and killing. It follows that
24
Bartsch, Anne, and Marie-Louise Mares. "Making sense of violence: Perceived meaningfulness as a predictor of
audience interest in violent media content." Journal of Communication 64, no. 5 (2014): 956-976.
25
Gentile, Douglas A., and Brad J. Bushman. "Reassessing media violence effects using a risk and resilience
approach to understanding aggression." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 1, no. 3 (2012): 138.
26
Ibid
27
Bartsch, Anne, and Marie-Louise Mares. "Making sense of violence: Perceived meaningfulness as a predictor of
audience interest in violent media content." Journal of Communication 64, no. 5 (2014): 956-976.
28
Ibid.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
8

constant with contacts; the undesirable emotive reaction becomes habitual with the individual

becoming deadened29. The individual could even think then plan preemptive belligerent acts

deprived of any experiences of harmful effects.

Enactive learning

An additional hypothetical perspective that is deemed significant is the fact that

observational knowledge as well desensitization cannot not happen individualistically of the

alternative learning processes. Viewers are continuously being habituated and armored to act in a

specific way and the knowledge could transpire during contacts with cinema. The fact that some

of the films in cinemas are watched by social groups e.g. peers or family, increasingly composite

social acclimatizing processes could be used that may not be statistically scrutinized. It is

imperative to explore the effects involved in selection and involvement30.

Do you think that cinema can create elevate negative characters in the role of (anti)
heroes?
The cinema indeed has the capability to elevate negative characters playing the role of

heroes in films and movies. The culture has developed significant fixations with the aspect of

antihero character that is commonly evident in movies and television, entailing, and individual

who does not have the convectional heroic qualities and occasionally undertakes heinous acts31.

The elevation of these negative characters by cinema has been in response to the cookie-cutter

mode in which heroes have been depicted in the typical goods vs bad guy manner. The black and

white storytelling that is adopted by the cinema has slowly bec0me trite over time, thus

29
Ibid
30
Ibid.

31
García-Martínez, Alberto Nahum. "Sympathy for the Devil. Adorable Antiheroes in Contemporary TV Series."
(2013).
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
9

antiheroes became a welcome change32. Eventually, the society managed to color with shades of

grey, which is deemed to be a more accurate depiction of reality. The element of at the beginning

was a new noble attempt at storytelling later on developed into antiheroes who were increasingly

villainous over time33.

While most people can differentiate between reality and fiction, there is so much in one’s

lives that are dominated by technology that is used to view people from behind a TV or computer

screen. Based on what has been presented in a cinema, it has increasingly become difficult to

differentiate between what is real and what is fake. These fictional characters have been cheered

because most people have often felt powerless and that these cinemas act as a means of

advocating for the people by giving them the power to select what they watch34. Rather than

addressing the inherent powerlessness internally or decided to direct the anger to the corrupt,

economic, social, and political systems cinema would instead create characters to be cheered as

they engage in acts that would be deemed rebellious. It follows that the prospect of committing a

destructive act could at times have the semblance of power that is enticing to the viewers35. In the

process, it follows that the constant rooting for fictional people who tend to commit harmful acts

ends up diminishing the viewer’s capacity for empathy when dealing with real-life people.

The fact numerous shows in the cinema that depict protagonist with antihero tendencies

as the walking dead, the sopranos, house of cards etc., the view grows accustomed to viewing

32
Kleemans, Mariska, Allison Eden, Serena Daalmans, Merel van Ommen, and Addy Weijers. "Explaining the role of
character development in the evaluation of morally ambiguous characters in entertainment media." Poetics 60
(2017): 16-28.
33
Kleemans, Mariska, Allison Eden, Serena Daalmans, Merel van Ommen, and Addy Weijers. "Explaining the role of
character development in the evaluation of morally ambiguous characters in entertainment media." Poetics 60
(2017): 16-28.
34
García, Alberto N. "Moral emotions, antiheroes and the limits of allegiance." In Emotions in contemporary TV
series, pp. 52-70. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016.

35
Ibid
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
10

casually callous tendencies from the people they look up to. The implication is that when an

individual is committing the crime on the news, the reactions from fiction along with reality

gradually end up becoming the same36. For instance, there was a bizarre sadistic fascination

when a man who had filmed himself shooting two news anchors loves on-air decided to post the

footage on Facebook. Although most people were disturbed by the act, millions ended up still

watching and sharing the video.

To make the situation worse, studies have who that people’s brains lose the capability to

distinguish between real and fiction events. Considering how realistic violence meted by

antiheroes glorified by cinemas has become common on television as well as movies, an image

of a bloodied man in a political rally is met by a huge portion of the population with apathy37. In

contemporary culture, that which is considered funny and entertaining by the media tends to

supersede any other significance since the harm that is done to human life is not seriously

addressed. If assaulted or killed, people tend to become collateral damage to the amusement of

others38. While there is nothing wrong with the occasional enjoyment of programming that is

characterized by violence as well as characters committing crimes, the constant obsession with

depicting these individuals as heroes end up fanning flames that perpetuate more brutality and

bloodshed.

An additional thing that cinema has depicted most antiheroes encompasses their

propensity for obtaining power via aggression. These antiheroes tend to assert themselves in

36
Raney, Arthur A. "The role of morality in emotional reactions to and enjoyment of media
entertainment." Journal of Media Psychology (2011).

37
Raney, Arthur A. "Media enjoyment as a function of affective dispositions toward and moral judgment of
characters." Handbook of emotions and the mass media (2010): 166-178.

38
García-Martínez, Alberto Nahum. "Sympathy for the Devil. Adorable Antiheroes in Contemporary TV Series."
(2013).
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
11

situation and later lead authoritatively, with most people ending up gravitating towards them

owing to the fact that it is empowering to rally behind people who are deemed no-nonsense and

do not condone any insubordination39. The heroes as presented on TV and cinema do not have to

be one dimensional goody two shows but it is possible for protagonists to exhibit strength and

interesting characters void of glorifying toxic behavior40.

According to41, the people who are seen trying to stop the antihero in cinemas are

depicted as the villains. For instance, in the breaking bad about a chemistry teacher who becomes

a drug kingpin, the protagonist’s wife ended up being on the receiving end of immense vitriol

from the shows fans her crime being the constant questioning of her husband’s suspicious

tendencies. The wife was additionally criticized for insisting that he abandons the life of crime

since it was putting their life in immense danger.

Conclusion

Overall, the underlying position is that assessment of the prevailing situation is characterized by

a situation where the media has done less than enough to combat the harm that is caused by the

mafia in the society. To a huge extent, it can be said that the mafia has been benefiting from the

increased praise from a media that has painted them in a good light. There is an evident state

whereby the media has been addicted to praising the negative vices in the society such as

depicting the villains in TV shows as individuals who can be admired. These elements have all

worked towards creating a society in which violence and social vices are supported and provided

39
Ibid
40
Ibid
41
Sanders, Meghan S., and Mina Tsay-Vogel. "Beyond heroes and villains: Examining explanatory mechanisms
underlying moral disengagement." Mass Communication and Society 19, no. 3 (2016): 230-252.
MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
12

bad light, increasing the ways that the society and people, especially the children are motivated

to participate in behaviors that are not socially approved.

MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
13

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Ahamd, Nizar, Shagufta Shah, and Farman Ullah. "Sociological analysis of mass media role in

promotion of mob violence (A case study of two selected cities of khyber

pakhtunkhwa)." Pakistan Journal of Criminology 6, no. 2 (2014): 23.

Bartsch, Anne, and Marie-Louise Mares. "Making sense of violence: Perceived meaningfulness

as a predictor of audience interest in violent media content." Journal of

Communication 64, no. 5 (2014): 956-976.

Ferguson, Christopher J. "Does media violence predict societal violence? It depends on what you

look at and when." Journal of Communication 65, no. 1 (2015): E1-E22.

García, Alberto N. "Moral emotions, antiheroes and the limits of allegiance." In Emotions in

contemporary TV series, pp. 52-70. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016.

García-Martínez, Alberto Nahum. "Sympathy for the Devil. Adorable Antiheroes in

Contemporary TV Series." (2013).

Gentile, Douglas A., and Brad J. Bushman. "Reassessing media violence effects using a risk and

resilience approach to understanding aggression." Psychology of Popular Media

Culture 1, no. 3 (2012): 138.

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MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
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viewer empathy for victims of real violence among primarily Hispanic

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MAFIA IN ITALIAN CINEMA
15

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judgment of characters." Handbook of emotions and the mass media (2010): 166-178.

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