Brian De Palma’s Scarface might be a pretty divisive film (I’m personally a fan), but it’s experienced something over the last few decades its creators didn’t envision. The film has become a cult icon for the rap community, with clothes, jewelry, lyrics and hell, there’s even a rapper straight up called “Scarface.”
The fact that a Cuban character played by an Italian American actor would be so embraced by that community is a bit strange, and one would wonder what Al Pacino thinks of the subculture it’s found. He shares his thoughts at a recent part for the Blu-ray release of the film.
“The hip-hop people and the rappers got together and they made a video and they talked about the movie. I don’t think anybody’s ever talked about it as articulately and clearly. I understood it better having heard them talk about it. I mean, they really get it and they understand it, and that’s a great thing. They’ve been very supportive all these years. I think they’ve helped us tremendously.”
So what IS the message of the film, according to these rappers and Pacino?
“When I saw it for the first time — and I don’t mean mine, I mean Paul Muni’s from [the] 1930s — I had that feeling about it too,” he said. “Anything when the hero is just reaching for something.”
“Man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for? That’s a great expression, and I think that’s Tony Montana,” Pacino poetically explained. “Reaching for something he can’t get but he keeps going. There is an element of hope in it, believe it or not.”
I get the whole “American dream” aspect, and becoming something from nothing through “hard work” (read: extreme violence), but Tony Montana still strikes me as a strange role model, especially given the catastrophic end to his tale. Maybe man’s reach shouldn’t exceed his grasp after all.