His truama continues even now, twenty years later, since he lives somewhere in America under an assumed name, coming out of hiding to help make the film. So while the film is set in the world of gangsters, and there's enough violence to put most people off their popcorn, the real issue at the heart of the film is the difficulties Donnie Brasco undergoes in order to do his job.

Here's the basic scenario. Donnie becomes part of the mafia under the patronage of a wanna be called Lefty. Lefty has never made it big in the mafia. He's always broke, he a bizarre health condition, and he is constantly passed over for the big positions. Therefore we are encouraged to feel sorry for him, as Donnie does.

With Lefty's tutoring, Donnie becomes very involved with the mafia, and does very well for himself, even better than Lefty, in fact, which makes it tough for both of them. But he's very loyal to Lefty, and even spends Christmas with him, even though he knows his family is waiting patiently in the suburbs. fThis makes his homefront very uncomfortable, his wife threatens divorce and his daughters won't speak to him. But Donnie explains that he cannot come out from under cover because if he does Lefty will be "popped" for sponsoring a rat into the organization.

So the real issue of the film is Donnie's divided loyalties and he agonizes over them. Which family does he want? His own--comprising wife and daughters, or his adopted father, Lefty.

In case we don't understand the emotional drain this is to Donnie, Patrick Doyle provides one of the all time smaltziest soundtracks to help us out. Even if I was falling for the misplaced sentimental drivel about Lefty having to kill himself for sponsoring a rat into the organization, the mournful tune wailing from violins is enough to slap anyone back to reality. This is not, afterall, the death of St. Bernadette. And the music doesn't just lay on the pathos once. Indeed, everytime Donnie and Lefty are together this soap opera nonesensical stuff drips from the speakers such that you need an umbrella to keep dry. And for what? Lefty has explained through the course of the film that he has "popped" 26 guys. During the movie we see him mercilessly wipe out another four. So Lefty has 30 corpses to his credit. This is not the Sunday School Teacher and Donnie Brascoe is, after all, an FBI agent, deep undercover in the MAFIA, not the local kindergarden?

But the cast is very strong. Al Pacino as Lefty is pretty much what you'd expect. He recycles most of his moves from Scent of a Woman without hoo-ahing and the lip chewing. Michael Madsen as the mafia boss is effective, but very similar to his role as Mr Blue in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, only without the maniacal insanity. Johnny Depp, meanwhile, is completely and absolutely superb as Donnie Brasco. Depp is very talented and gutsy in the role, indeed, his portrayal of Brasco's conflict is almost convincing. In the confines of the theatre, I did feel for Brasco and his tough assignment, merely on the strength of Depp's realistic portrayal, but in the end, I couldn't buy it. Maybe its a gender thing, but I struggled to understand why Brasco would risk his wife and family for the self confessed murderer of 30 people. Nonetheless, its an interesting movie.