Last of the Mo-rican (Carlito's Way (DVD))

Member Name: hobo

Product:	Carlito's Way (DVD)
Date:	22/03/01 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Powerful tale of one man's attempts to escape a world of crime

Disadvantages: Devastating ending

It's the oldest story in the book. The man who finds himself tryin to choose between the woman and the life. Calito isn't finding that choice hard at all. He's been inside for a long time. He's tired of the life, he just wants to settle down on some tropical island, rent cars to tourists and make babies.

But it's never your decision to make. You can't just give up the life, it has to let you go. And no matter how hard he tries, the life won't let Carlito escape. The man who Carlito owes his life to going down, and it looks like Carlito is going down with him.

This film is passionate. Superbly played by Pacino, Carlito struggles between his desires and his instincts. He is forced to stay in the life by his desires to escape it, he just needs to make a little more money, then he can leave it all behind. But before he can go, he's gonna have to repay a debt to Dave, the man who got Carlito off on a technicality and gave him this freedom back.

The whole time, Carlito is plagued by his own reputation. The fact he was a powerful man before he went down causes more problems than it solves. We can see that Carlito isn't the same man he once was, but sometimes it seems like we are the only ones. This kind of dramatic irony only serves to make us closer to the character of Carlito and understand him a little better. Like Scarface, this movies riddled with morality over the benefits and dangers that power and reputation bring.

However, I think it is best to avoid comparisons with Scarface. The two film do invite comparison, but Pacino's roles are very different within the two films. In scarface, De Palma paints him as a man so motivated by power and so hungry for respect that he is willing to sacrifice everything for them. Conversely, Carlito has had the money and the power, but has found them not to his taste. All he now wants is the simple life. But that can be very hard to ge
t.

Of course, we know how this will all end from the beginning. You can't escape the life, it's gonna end up killing you one way or another.

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