After seeing the award winning movie Parasite last weekend, I was able to see a bunch of trailers that also contained similarities to that movie in that there were a bunch of foreign films in different languages.

Because of this, there was a movie I had never heard of called “The Traitor” or “Il Traditore” in Italian. This movie was all about the first Italian Mafia in Sicily, called “ La Cosa Nova.”, and how a certain member ends up giving up the names of other mafia members to a judge for them. 

For this being my third foreign film, I can say that this was definitely one of the hardest films to watch. Not because it was in a different language, but because the story line jumped between different people and families constantly. I think had this film been in my first language, I still would have struggled to follow.

Also, this movie felt very long. It was two and a half hours, but it could have easily been condensed into a single hour and a half film. 

However, with this movie feeling both long and confusing, I still really enjoyed the experience.  I was able to see similarities and differences between American and Italian films. Some camera techniques were very different and it made it feel like you were more with the family and in the event other than just watching. Despite this, I felt that the editing style was very similar to movies I have seen in the U.S.

Overall, I enjoyed this film. I don’t think I would take the time to watch it again, but I am thankful to have been able to watch the movie and immerse myself in a wider variety of film.