This is a quiet and subtle sequence which I think goes under appreciated because it is so quiet. Like the best gangster movies this film explores tensions in our moral framework – we sympathize with and even grow fond of criminals – their virtues of friendship and brotherhood resonate with us. We temporarily overlook their criminality even brutality.

The meta-referential shift when the stills turn into snapshots/ film and back again is not only an analog of the main character’s duplicit persona-shift, but is also an abrupt refocusing of our own moral camera. Check out the uncanny kerning. It is the familiar ineffably not quite right – easy to initially overlook but unmistakable once discovered. The type acts not only as a metaphor of the gangster’s overlooking Donnie Brasco’s true self but it simultaneously makes our point of view coincident with the gangsters; and ultimately forces us to confront our moral oversight.