FREE ON CINEGEEK.De Martin Scorsese - Mean Streets 

Mean Streets isn't just about the street gangsters or the mafia. It's about living in deep sin. We have to understand this in Catholic terms: The eternal suffering of a sinner who dies without absolution. "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets." Whose voice is that speaking from the off? Then we see Charlie (Harvey Keitel) awakening from a nightmare and looking at his face in the mirror. Did he dream of the words, possibly spoken by a priest? Later we see Charlie in church. The priest prays the usual ten Hail Marys. But Charlie asked for more. He holds his hand in the flame of the votive candle in front of the altar. As if he is reaching into the flames of hell. Then he descends into a friend's bar. It is blood red, like hell. He greets his friends, flirts with the stripper (but she is "black" and Charlie is afraid to be seen by his friends with a "black" woman). He also has sex with his cousin Teresa (Amy Robinson) - but he doesn't want to hear "I love you" from her mouth. Women stand for sin. That's how Charlie feels about it. Charlie seeks forgiveness from the local Mafia boss, his uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova). Or from his friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro). Even from God (and a credit shark). Martin Scorsese knows exactly how Charlie thinks, because Mean Streets might be largely based on Scorsese's own biography: The church is always right - and the individual is weak. Charlie steals and kills and sells drugs. But the real sin remains sex (the rest is business). Then, very slowly, trouble threatens Charlie's world through his friend Johnny Boy, who Giovanni owes something to... Scorsese established the handheld camera in 1973. Today it seems normal, but then it was revolutionary! His film is also accompanied by rock music, namely that of the Rolling Stones. In which interview did I learn that the Stones music was more expensive than the rest of the production? The heart of Mean Streets is Charlie's despair. He wants to see Johnny Boy and his cousin Teresa. But both are forbidden. Essentially, Charlie feels bad about everything he does and leaves. He hates himself with all his heart. Anyone expecting a Mafia epic should know: Mean Streets is an early Scorsese movie and definitely not round yet! But still: He breathes the concentrated power of doom! He observes life in Little Italy as closely as any other film! And of course Mean Streets influenced all the gangsters and mafia movies that followed him.