The Irishman

[EgoDeath]

I don’t think it’s a fair criticism to say that Scorsese glorifies or romanticizes the crime figures in his films. The great majority of them seem to come rather sad, pathetic and frequently sticky ends.

Boru

My main issue with claiming any kind of fictional entertainment supposedly glorifies some sort of real life violence is that the entertainment in question is fictional. To say that a fictional work is glorifying real-life violence is about as close to a nothing statement as one can get. What, precisely, is even being said? It's nonsensical.

Then again, many films are based on real events, so, in a weird sort of not that solid way, you can start to draw some parallels to real-life messages...

But even then, as you've pointed out, it's not like the bad guys win, let's say, Goodfellas. Scorsese pointed out how insanely gruesome and futile that way of life was, if anything. Everyone either got killed or put in jail. As for Henry Hill, he was so close to death and jail that his only escape was changing his entire life, running away, going into WITSEC. Not much of a life, by any measure I'd consider acceptable.

So, if after watching a film, your takeaway is how terrible it is that a director would make a film about something you think is despicable, I'd probably wonder how deep that stick up your ass is, and would suggest you to learn how to enjoy yourself. Meditation is actually a great way to start learning how to be mindful. So that's a good place to start.