more than anything else, and despite its focus on a small fry rather than a don, "The Traitor" suggests what Gotti might have looked like in assured-or maybe even just competent-hands
how I wish this had been made by "Gomorrah"'s Matteo Garrone, who brings more verve to a story this populated and complicated, yet this mob tale steals our attention
despite its lack of mafia money scenes --- there's no horse's head in the bed, no family gunned down on the steps of a church --- this is one of the most revealing portraits of the Cosa Nostra on film
by the time "The Traitor" finds its way back to Buscetta for an overextended final stretch that trafficks in all of the usual symbology of paranoia, he's become both too complicated for us to understand and too simple for us to care about
"The Traitor" is acted and directed throughout with confidence and force, but somehow it lacks the lightning-flash of inspiration of something like Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas"... but "The Traitor" is big, bold, confident film-making
by Peter Howell [Toronto Star ]
