Whitey: United States of America vs. James J. Bulger

This is the third movie I've seen from the CNN Films family and they're batting a thousand.  Blackfish earned an honorable mention on my personal list two years ago, and Life Itself was my second favorite movie of 2014.  All three have been technically sound, well done films.  Whitey may be the least of the trio, though it may haveprobably has the most fascinating subject. 

James "Whitey" Bulger ran the city of Boston for decades as the head of a local organized crime syndicate known as the Winter Hill Gang.  At one point Bulger was #2 on the FBI's most wanted list behind only Osama Bin Laden.  After over fifteen years on the lam, Bulger was finally apprehended.  The documentary focuses on his trial that took place in 2013.  Whitey does well to present varying testimonies in a story so complicated and full of deceit that it seems custom made for the big screen.

If all of this sounds familiar then you may have seen Martin Scorsese's The Departed, the 2006 thrill ride that was based loosely on Bulger's reign.  Jack Nicholson played Frank Costello, a character undoubtedly created in the mold of Whitey himself.  It's worth mentioning here that Scorsese's incredibly entertaining take is a must-see if you haven't done so and an ideal companion to the more serious documentary.  

It's a little disquieting, to say the least, to think that a character as vicious as Costello could actually exist.  And while there are some chilling accounts of Bulger's many deeds of extortion, violence and murder, the film's most disturbing aspect is its implications that the FBI may have enabled those heinous acts, an idea only flirted with in the aforementioned Departed.  There are accusations of Bulger being an FBI informant and rebutted by Bulger's claim that he had FBI officials on his payroll, not the other way around.  Eventually the trial sees constituents, associates and friends all rolling over on one another, creating "a nation of rats" as Ray Winstone's Mr French so eloquently put it in Scorsese's film.  Conversely the "rat" theme is one explored in depth by The Departed, so it's intriguing to see how intricate the web of lies is in reality. 

The extent of the corruption seems immense but can only be  speculated, which the film does often and masterfully.  There's a clever observation by the brother of one of Bulger's victims who comments that an entrance to the courthouse resembled a "mouse hole," suitable for all the rats.  There's even a key witness that ends up being murdered during the trial.  An investigation finds that the incident is unrelated to the case, but the coincidental nature of it coupled with the betrayal-laden testimonies lead to a justifiable skepticism. 

By the end of the movie, like the loved ones left behind by the victims, we're left wanting answers to many of the questions we started with along with some new ones.  And as much as we may wish it was a another fictional, sensationalized telling of organized crime, those family members remind us that it's an all too real tragedy in Boston's history, and one that may never be fully resolved.