Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Michael Gandolfini, Leslie Odom Jr, Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Ray Liotta, Vera Farmiga
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Runtime: 120 mins. Reviewed in Nov 2021
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan

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Rating notes: Strong violence and coarse language

This film is a prequel to the events depicted in the television series, The Sopranos. It tells the story of the tensions between the African-American and the Italian-American communities in the gang war that surrounded Tony Soprano’s family in the 1960s and 1970s, in Newark, USA.

This American crime drama was written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, who also were two of the film’s co-producers. The movie is a prequel to the television series, The Sopranos, which streamed 86 episodes. Six series containing the episodes went to air between January 1999, and June 2007, and David Chase wrote 30 of them.

Tony Soprano is a fictional character, based loosely on a real-life New Jersey mobster. The original series portrayed the difficulties that Tony Soprano faced as he tried to reconcile his role as mobster leader with his family responsibilities. The series was widely regarded as one of the best series in US television history. It garnered five Golden Globe Awards over its eight-year run, and established the character, Tony Soprano, as one of America’s most famous television characters.

The film follows a young Anthony Soprano (played by Michael Gandolfini), as he grows quietly to adulthood. Alessandro Nivola plays his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti. Anthony Soprano, as an adult, challenged the DiMeo crime family’s grip over the race-torn city of Newark, USA, and young Anthony grew up under the influence of his uncle to become one of America’s most powerful mob bosses. Rather than continuing the story of The Sopranos, the film anticipates the story that began the original television series.

Film director Alan Taylor directed several episodes in the original ‘Sopranos’ series. Michael Gandolfini, who plays young Anthony Soprano in this film, is the son of the late star, James Gandolfini, who took the role of Tony Soprano in the original television series. The drama has a strong historical sweep and is set in the 1960s and 1970s during, and in the wake of, the Newark race riots. The title of the film refers to the character of Dickie Moltisanti, the father of Christopher Moltisanti, who was a member of the DiMeo crime family. In English, molti santi translates as ‘many saints’. The film focuses on what ‘made the man, Tony Soprano’. It provides an entry point into the Mob’s origins, and tells its story through the eyes of Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over a young, impressionable Tony Soprano turned his nephew into the all-powerful New Jersey mob-boss that he became. Dickie Moltisanti was idolised by the young Soprano, and in this film the character of Dickie Moltisanti has central plot importance.

There are many interconnecting points between the original series and this film – they have writers in common, as well as producers and actors, and this film has a director who himself acted in the original series. The cards are heavily stacked in favour of a film that is important for being both culturally significant and a movie that anticipates a cult classic in America’s film-media history. As well as co-writing the film’s script, David Chase created the original The Sopranos, and this film thematically and dramatically deals impressively with the promise of his creation.

Violent and intensely dramatic scenes abound in the film, as one would expect from a contemporary movie in the gangster genre, and the build-up of tension in the film is well constructed by the director. Life under mob rule was essentially valueless and Alessandro Nivola impressively captures the character of Tony Soprano’ uncle, who almost single-handedly, influenced his nephew’s rise to mob rule.

Writers, producers, the director, and actors work so well together in this movie, that one can predict that a ‘sequel’, or another ‘prequel’ may well eventuate, to show how Tony Soprano – with his firm, but non-verbal commitment that ends this movie – shapes into an actively assertive and aggressive Capo.

The film’s title comes from Dickie Moltisanti’s family’s name which when translated from Italian to English means “many saints”.