Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the 1967 Newark Riots,
"The Many Saints of Newark" is a prequel to "The Sopranos," HBO's smash hit prestige TV series
that became a cultural phenomenon when it debuted back in 1999. The film is co-written by David
Chase, who created the original "Sopranos" series and its colorful cast of characters.
Starring James Gandolfini's son Michael Gandolfini as young Tony Soprano, "The Many Saints of Newark"
chronicles the formative years of Tony as a kid and a teenager, and the impactful
relationship he shared with his mob boss uncle Dickie Moltisanti. As fans well know, it would
not exactly be a spoiler to say that young Tony grows up to follow in Uncle Dickie's footsteps.
So how does this improbable prequel end? Does the ending serve as a logical prologue
to "The Sopranos"? Or is it telling its own story, simply set in David Chase's universe?
The opening shot gently pans over a gloomy graveyard,
getting closer and closer to what is revealed to be Christopher's grave -- yes,
that Christopher. In the first few shots of the movie, the audience
hears the voice of Christopher Moltisanti, telling the story from beyond the grave.
Since Christopher is a baby in the time period that "Many Saints" takes place, he hardly factors
into the prequel story. Tony exclaims that his baby nephew only ever cries when he is around,
pretty deftly foreshadowing their tumultuous future relationship,
which takes a murderous turn during the timeline of "The Sopranos."
"Some babies, when they come into the world, know all kinds of things from the other side."
These little referential treats aside, the story of "Many Saints" doesn't really turn out
to be about Tony or Christopher by the end. It's got a lot more to do with the man whose shadow
extends over their relationship for decades to come: Christopher's father, Dickie Moltisanti.
While the movie is mostly framed through young Tony's point of
view as he experiences the chaos and violence surrounding him and his family,
the story is really more focused on the trials and tribulations of Dickie Moltisanti's life.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Alan Taylor said,
"It was important to feel [Tony] powerfully
in the movie even though structurally it's Dickie's story."
This certainly seems to suggest that the focus on Dickie is just as the creators intended.
This is part of the reason Christopher narrates instead of our present-day POV character, young
Tony. Tony's environment and his pivotal bond with Dickie essentially morphs him into the New Jersey
mob boss that he infamously becomes, but "Many Saints" isn't really a Tony Soprano origin story.
At the crux of the film are the tensions between the white and Black residents of
Newark, New Jersey after a Black man is killed by the Newark police, a real life
incident that resulted in uprisings that nearly burned the city down.
The generational conflict between the mob and the Black community is a constant presence in
"Many Saints," with the heightened racial tensions serving as more setting than plot
point. This ambient tension is made manifest in the story via the looming conflict between Dickie
and a Black man named Harold McBrayer with whom he used to do business.
When McBrayer turns against Dickie for killing one of his own, an all out war ensues between the two
rival factions of Newark. It becomes a blood bath between the Italian mob and McBrayer and his crew.
If racial and cultural tensions were always simmering beneath the surface on "The Sopranos,"
they claim top billing in the plot of "Many Saints."
Even though the film is a period piece, this choice makes it feel current and culturally
relevant, and may even provide a fresh lens through which to revisit "The Sopranos."
Interestingly, the film's culminating act of violence isn't an act of racial animus,
but rather a manifestation of the conflicts within the Italian mob.
This dynamic, too, will be familiar to fans of "The Sopranos" -- no matter how many
threats attack from the outside, it's always the threats from within that prove the most deadly.
Toward the end of the film, in a surprise twist, Dickie is suddenly shot and killed by someone who
is revealed to have been hired by Junior Soprano, Tony's uncle and a member of the family who has
always been at odds with Dickie. Earlier, Dickie even humiliates Junior in a very public way by
laughing at him when he falls down the stairs at Dickie's father's funeral.
It's interesting to consider the ways this struggle between Junior and Dickie
replays a generation later between Junior and Tony — Junior tries to kill Tony in Season 1,
you'll recall — and how this twist reveals the truth about Barry Haydu,
the retired cop who Christoper thinks killed his father, because Tony convinced him of
this … and who Christopher murders in his home at the start of Season 4.
"You're being set up! He's lying to you, whoever he is!"
At Dickie's funeral, Tony stands staring at Dickie in the open casket. He imagines
himself making a pinky swear with Dickie. It's a callback to a moment earlier in the film,
but more importantly, it foreshadows the way Tony will continue Dickie's legacy.
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