Content

Structure and Themes

• The film is structured like a war between gangs, which justifies the choice of a historical approach:
  • See the text shown at the beginning of the film, stating that this film is “based upon the truth,”
  • And the use of a narrating voice providing details about the main characters, as well as the formal quality and the serious, almost dramatic tone of that voice, which adds value and importance to the background information about the lives of the characters before and after the events shown in the film.
• Once you understand that the frame of the story is a war between gangs over the control of different territories in Chicago and the bootlegging and gambling in those territories (the north side and the south side of Chicago during the Prohibition Era), then you will understand the use of symmetry and asymmetry in the narrative.
• We have, at the beginning of the movie, two meetings:
  1. Al Capone and his top-level collaborators
  2. Bugsy Moran and his accomplices
  • Both include flashbacks showing asymmetrical attacks on both sides.
  • We also see plans being made on both sides to eliminate the leader of the rival organization:
    • Al Capone wants Bugs Moran dead
    • Bugs plots to eliminate Patsy LoLordo, who’s nominally above Capone in the hierarchy of the Mafia
    • Both plans require extensive preparation and carefully executed preliminary actions
    • Both involve deceit and betrayal
    • As indicated by the title, there is more of an emphasis on Capone himself, who was responsible for the titular “massacre.”
  • The logical format of Mafia wars is based on symmetry and asymmetry
    • Symmetry whenever they fight each other directly, or get even
    • Asymmetry is represented by the surprise attacks that fuel the war itself
• We will focus on the characterization of Capone as a leader
  • Directly, through lines and actions, as well as the body language of Capone.
  • Indirectly, through the scenes, the sets, the mise-en-scène in general, the camera angles
  • For example, in the first scene with Capone, we see a complex representation of a Mafia leader
    • The character is associated with the formal cues, the indicators, the visual elements of a leader
      • the luxurious and impressive details of his office space
      • the fact that he has a long table with people sitting around, like the board of trustees of a big organization or corporation
      • the way Capone moves and dominates physically the scene, and towers over his accomplices
      • the way he uses his voice
    • Then, besides the element of influence that I just mentioned, you have the physical elements alluding to his willingness to use force
      • the violence with which he strikes the table
      • his reactions, his voice, the aggressive way he moves around
  • Later on, in the scene at Capone’s mansion, we see signs of influence, with him coming down the stairs to meet his guests while talking to a judge about public morality, building up his political and social network
    • Once again, we have plenty of visual cues alluding to his position of power:
      • the neoclassical elements in the architecture of the mansion
      • the tapestry hung on the wall of his study
      • the Renaissance-style paintings in that room
      • the furniture
      • the formality of his clothes.
    • And we have the theme of force, in the way he reacts physically (his rage), the compliance and the stillness of his accomplices (already noticeable in earlier scenes), which emphasizes their subordinate nature.
  • Then we will also see Capone stepping in to physically eliminate traitors, in particular Aiello,
    • Even in the scenes where he resorts to violence directly, the other elements will not be absent
    • He will still be dressing quite formally, moving confidently and in one of the two scenes, the one of the mansion, will be relying on his accomplices which act like members of a military unit, based on their stiffness, the precision of their movements, the careful execution of the plan
      • A reference to this military style is also contained in the constant display of weapons and how the gangsters regularly check their weapons, or how they handle those weapons in general
      • In a way, the formality of the suits, how impeccable they are, may be an allusion to the formality of military uniforms.
• Overall, you have three elements that stand out in this film
  • The Machiavellian duality of influence
    • Force, paired with all the accessory elements of deterrence, manipulation, and violence
  • And you also find the continuation of the traditional themes of the gangster movies from the 1930s, combining those Machiavellian elements with the core elements of the American dream: the criminals using illegal means to achieve the American dream of wealth, influence, power, luxury
    • In fact, especially in the scenes at Capone’s mansion or at his villa in Miami, we find direct and indirect references to the Jazz Age epitomized by the characters and location in the novel The Great Gatsby (1925)
  • Finally, we find the theme of moralism, i.e. the moralistic view of crime and criminals, especially emphasized in the profiles offered by the narrating voice, and also in the epilogue, which is showing the violent demise or the sad endings of the lives of those who participated in the film’s various gang war operations. So there is this simple moralistic idea that crime doesn’t pay, ultimately.

Key Scenes and Visual Elements