Rediscovering Cinema: A Newcomer’s Take on ‘The Godfather’ (1972)
A review of IMDb’s number one greatest film of all time
Storytime (because I have narcissistic traits)
I have always been a cinema enthusiast. Whatever I have watched, I have seen it with all my heart, soul, and critical mind. However, to really call myself a ‘True Cinephile’, I have always felt ashamed, the reason being the collection of movies that I have watched. I am not someone who has seen all the “OG’s” and the greatest films of all time or someone who remembers the iconic dialogues from movies. Despite that, I still love watching movies. (DO NOT JUDGE!)
So, as I majorly wish to talk about movies, TV, and stories over here, I thought what’s better to watch than narratives that are still relevant? Right.
From the research and little knowledge, I had, I knew what was going to be the first on the list. You read that right. The Godfather.
I know some of you might be thinking what kind of person has not seen THE GODFATHER? Well, just a little context, I am twenty-three years old, and English isn’t my first language, so naturally, English movies or cinema outside of my country weren’t that popular as I was growing up especially where I lived. (I mean, except for the dubbed Sam Raimi’s Spiderman movies, God! What a time that was.)
Still, some of you might say, ‘But you still grew up in the age of the internet, so you could have watched the movie if you truly wanted to — you so-called self-proclaimed film enthusiast’. And that’s right. I mean, I did try. Like two times. But the teenage me just couldn’t sit through it.
Nevertheless, all that is behind me now. And I guess the third time is a charm, so I finally took the chance to watch the movie that appears in every top ten list. Before tuning in, I was a little skeptical about whether I would be able to make it through a three-hour-long film or not, but here I am writing about it!
Note: The following paragraphs have references to the plot, which may or may not spoil your experience if you have not seen the film.
The Godfather — an eloquent & elaborate tale of vengeance
The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola (as many of you would know), is a mob drama adapted from Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name. The film is a story of a Mafioso, Vito Corleone, and his son Michael, encompassing a riveting tale about crime, vengeance, and succession.
The First Thirty Minutes — Cinematic Perfection
Despite my reservations, I was hooked from the get-go. The moment the line ‘I believe in America’ makes its waves on screen, I felt a spark as the character kept on looking into the camera while speaking his lines, and with subtle camera motion, we meet Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone. A reputed Mafioso/Godfather who believes in the fact that they are not ‘murderers,’ even though his whole empire is built upon gaining a reputation via wrongdoing/crime.
The first thirty minutes of the film are some of the strongest that, in my opinion, make the movie cater to every sort of audience. The seamlessness through which the characters are introduced in a family wedding, while we get a detailed insight into who Corleone is and how he and his team carry out his “Business” is captivating in the most under-appreciative way. The realist crime world that we get glances of through the initial run successfully establishes the morals of the crime lord.
There is an ease with which everything is done and that helps a great deal for someone like me who usually finds myself lost in movies with actors and characters that I know nothing about.
The Progression — Trusting the Material & Direction
I was in awe of how the story moves forward, the narratives are woven in a manner that nothing feels overwhelming, and the brilliance lies in the peaceful writing style that smoothly continues till the end of the film.
The way we get to the whole “getting the part in the movie gig by scaring the producer” I loved every bit of it. The horse head on the bed is probably one of the scariest scenes that I have ever seen, and that being filmed in 1972 sounds insane to me. But that’s The Godfather for you.
As the film moves forward, you start to see it take a sense of direction, which although it feels long due, the interestingly shot sequences make up for it.
Take the case of the whole hospital sequence. The undertone is an eerie sense of anxiety and lingering fear without there being anyone present, which is something to marvel at. The feeling derived from the surroundings, score, and acting was a masterclass in making.
The physical progression of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) also has a purpose in the storytelling. The way he subtly changes his position by changing his seat from being on the side of his father to now filling in his shoes is a wonderful metaphor. The beauty of it lies in its approach. Such moments never become the main focus of the scene, but rather add a layer of meaning to whatever is happening in the plot, forcing the audience to read between the lines.
Reading between the lines reminds me of the masterful sequence where no subtitles are provided just to portray that the protagonist as the audience too doesn’t understand what the other person is talking about (innovatively genius!).
What Didn’t Work? (forgive me all the cinephiles)
Writing about a film that has been tagged as one of the greatest is hard enough but to talk about ‘What you didn’t like?’ is like a challenge. Keeping my integrity intact, I’ll be honest:
A whole chuck of the film where Michael leaves the country and goes into hiding provides context to how he has been occupied in that time, but it felt like an excessive stretch in the otherwise crisp screenplay. A shorter version of the sequence with fewer elements (which in the film’s case were added for the shock value) might have amplified the impact of the story.
Spoiler*****
Now, I understand we are watching the story of the Godfather/Mafioso in the making and his loved one getting killed in front of his eyes is a moving factor in why he chooses the life he does, but the story has enough motivation for the character to choose the same path (his brother’s death) so somewhere that whole side bit lost my attention.
Furthermore, the over-the-top dramatic acting approach delivered via Connie (Talia Shire) in one of the domestic violence scenes took a little subtly out from the experience.
The Good, the Bad, and Now the Best — The moment where the film truly shines
I have highlighted a couple of factors that explain the good and the bad, but I cannot sum the whole experience up without talking about Al Pacino. The actor takes over a persona that exuberates command, sensibility, and fear all through the body language.
In one scene, the actor for half a second stares into the eye of a guilty offender/victim, that intimidating look was so powerful that it had me genuinely worried. Even with such a refined performance and memorable moment, what stood out to me was completely simple — the poignant conclusion.
The complex and diverse narrative structured around vengeance strategically leads us to the birth of a new Godfather. As the audience, we find ourselves reluctantly supporting the protagonist’s journey till the very end.
However, the film chooses to give room for self-reflection and prompts us to question the ethical stance in the final moments by closing the shot not at the triumphant ascension to the role of Godfather but capturing the pensive gaze of the protagonist’s wife — Kay Adams-Corleone, played by Diane Keaton.
The sudden revelation of the moral fabric that the narrative with conviction manages to manipulate throughout, reassesses the perspective from which we’ve viewed the tale thus far. Doing the same through the lens of an overlooked female character in a tale dominated by males offers more than just a nuance conflict. The silent contemplation of understanding the doomed hole her husband has entered gives a much-needed moral check in a story entangled in a web of moral ambiguity, eventually amplifying the impact of the film as the credit rolls.
The filmmaker’s artistry of balancing such strong themes by shifting the focus to channel the feeling of a sidelined character is where the film finds its heart and cements The Godfather as a forever classic.
