Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Year: 1972
Country: U.S
Language: English
Whenever I go to my grandparents house they are literally always watching The Godfather. I lived there for a month as a child and I swear they saw that film every second day. They know the three hour gangster epic line by line and yet are still surprised by the way the film ends. I can say that I've seen director Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece an upwards of 50x. I can even notice the most obscure homages to the film in other tv shows & movies. I swear the end of fourth season of Breaking Bad ended quite similar to The Godfather. While actor Marlon Brando was a great actor in the 1950's, he truly is something special when he portrays his character known as the mighty Don Corleone. I love the controversial Academy Award moment when Brando won "best actor" but refused to accept, instead and Indian lady told Hollywood that if they kept mocking Indians that they could shove it. That's not line for line, but I'd like to think it's close. .
The cinematography in this film is rather expressive. It's dark and uses lighting to highlight facial features. It makes the characters seem extremely important. Their gestures grand and exquisite. When we meet Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) for the first time we automatically know that he is the most powerful man in the story. When we meet Michael (Al Pacino) we assume that he has power but isn't the same man as his father. The Godfather is a high class mafia film that completely changed the public's outlook of the mafia business. While once they were seen as criminal scum, rats terrified of the law, we now see them as prideful family where honesty, respect and loyalty are proud virtues. Who wouldn't want to be in a family this neatly wrapped?
Vito Corleone represents the moral sanity of this film. Under his watch he sees that his family is not exposed to the dirty underground world. that civilians aren't a part of the casualties, no women be held prisoner as a prostitute and no men shall fall under gambling addictions. He feels that drugs are a dirty man's game and that justice will be served equally and to those who deserve it. He's an honourable man, and when he dies we feel great sadness despite the fact that he likely has murdered a lot of people. Brando's performance as Vito, is really quite amazing. He uses props but does not depend on them, he embodies the character so well that we forget he's an actor. We think he's an old man playing himself, his body movements in regards to acting his character are some of the best I have ever seen.
The film is a study of the nature of power and how too much power can corrupt in the wrong hands. Vito is a smart man, he knows about what power can do to the soul and therefore he does his best to use his power for rightful justice and the good of the family, but what about his sons? What about Michael? At first Michael does not want to be in the family business, he wants to marry his loving girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) and raise a family outside of violence, but as his willingness to save his father from almost certain death increases, so does his lust for power. I'm not sure I can say more as it would spoil the film.
In conclusion, there's a good reason The Godfather is regarded as one of the greatest mafia films of all time. It's technically one of best films ever made and it completely changed the public's outlook on the crime organization If you liked The Sopranos at all, you owe it to yourself to see this. A stunning study on the nature of power and Marlon Brando's greatest onscreen role. References to this film are nearly everywhere. Watch this film or "I'll make you an offer you can't refuse". Praise it! 5/5
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