I just watched The Godfather and I don’t think I’ve watched so great a movie in a while (apart from the diving bell and butterfly of course.)We can see why this movie is one of the most looked to, parodied, quoted and imitated movies of all time. The acting was superb and the movie just brought this air of antiquity that other movies don’t even come close to. The script, music, the cast and the directing as well as cinematography just brings the excellence to the movie that a lot of movies will never come near. The range of the actors was amazing and it just showed how everyone in the mafia had their own characteristics. Some hotheaded like “sonny,” some calm like Don, some struggling even though they try like Fredo and some changing like Michael.
I think what really appealed to me the most was the portrayal of culture. The culture of the Italians was portrayed perfectly. Everything was concerned with family. It wasn’t just a business, it was the family business. The movie just brings out the everyday lifestyle of the mafia, showing that it was hard work and not just killing spree after killing spree. There are so many rich scenes full of culture in the movie. We see how the Italians live in America vs. Sicily and the similarities and differences in both contexts. We are introduced to family customs and values and we see the relationships between father and sons. Notice how they said the mafia consisted of five “families” and not business owners.
The movie also brings morality to something as heartless as syndicate crime. The don’s ethics brought a nod of agreement to a lot of heads from the audiences and I believe that is another reason that Don Corleone had to be one of the greatest fictional characters of all time. The sense of family love and protection was just as great as the other crimes committed. It was strictly business and the family matters were different. It just brought a sense of love and protection and that the family always comes first. I also liked how they put an outsider like Kay to see her point of view to show how outsiders had no clue or were in the mist about the business of the family.
One thing I thought about was just the commonness of death that was portrayed. People would just die left and right and it was just life. They portray a lot of deaths from the family as something that was unwanted but not unexpected because I feel other family members would be more devastated than the way this family took it. Even the death of the Godfather was really cool because tomatoes are very important to Italians and for him to die in a patch of growing tomatoes was just the significance of how life goes on.
We can see that this is definitely Francis Coppola’s work because of the use of lighting and fixtures in this movie. The shadow cast on the face of Don Corleone just gives him a presence that we can feel, one who has great power and of course with that great responsibility( thanks Uncle Ben!) the application of shadow and light was well done bringing out the mysteriousness in all the characters. Lighting is also used to see how Michael Corleone is transformed from this schoolboy to the next Don which is amazing. With this cinematography we can feel the kind of era this movie was set in and how dark the times were but don’t worry, I will write more about the cinematography on the next one and that’s an offer you can’t refuse!
oh and p.s i got the picture from here- http://workitmom.com/bloggers/workitdad/files/2008/04/godfather.jpg
2 comments:
Your comment about the nature of the deaths in The Godfather was important. In interviews, Coppola often says that he deliberately makes each of the violent deaths visually distinctive. For some people, I guess, this just makes the violence "cooler," but Coppola's intention was that the violence would stand out and stick with his audiences. You wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it or remembering it. So, he was kind of trying to make his film murders have a kind of consequence for viewers.
"Notice how they said the mafia consisted of five 'families' and not business owners."
So true! It's strange because even though the "family business" is violent and corrupt, I can't help but be somewhat jealous of the bond that the family has. I mean, I wouldn't put it past them to break that bond if betrayal takes place, but that Italian family culture is just so appealing to me throughout the film!
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