World Of Dreams

by William Speruzzi on 10/12/2007

ouatia

[Entry in the Close-Up Blog-a-thon, hosted by The House Next Door, running Oct. 12 through Oct. 21. Close-up image from Once Upon a Time In America.]

DeNiro’s poppy induced smile is such a far removed sentiment from the whole of Sergio Leone’s Lower East Side spaghetti crime epic. A man at peace with himself, maybe the only time, only through flashback and only through the use of narcotics, David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson slips away to dream. Of what? We can only image. Wherever he is it is far from the life of a petty criminal filled, upon reflection, with much regret and loss.

The close-up is preceded by Noodles as an older man unknowingly attending the party of a dear friend from days long gone. Aged, listless and drained of any real joy Noodles looks on at the gate where his friend Maximilian ‘Max’ Bercovicz stands in front of his massive Gatsby-esque estate. A garbage truck passes in front of Max as Noodles gazes on. The truck grinds. Max disappears – another ghost from Noodles’ past gone as the truck’s lights fade into the darkness and magically [really, a great visual match dissolve] transform into a Prohibition era car’s headlights full of young men and women celebrating the New Year. Noodles wistfully watches his youth drive off.

Ennio Morricone’s heart-swelling tinny score leads us to the next scene that takes place in the past where we find Noodles, a young man looking to fix what is ailing him. The close-up rides us out – it being the last image we see in this melancholic journey through New York’s immigrant gangster origins to this final destination, a Chinatown opium den.

Noodles tokes up, leans back on a prepared bed and lets his mind wander to blissfully find his gauzy happiness. He does. He is free.

There is 1 comment in this article:

  1. 10/12/2007Chet Mellema says:

    Well done! I think you highlighted one of the finer moments in an underrated film and an underrated career for that matter. I’m a fan of Leone’s and especially Once Upon a Time in America. Noodles is certainly an extraordinarily flawed protaganist, but in reality who isn’t? By the end of the film his regret is palpable…and he can seek solace only in the past and through escape. What a great shot!!!

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