The three sons are a tragedy in themselves

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2017)

I read the paperback book, "The Godfather", when I just became a teenager. The book and the movie are rare for both being excellent, which is why both received high awards.
I found the book riveting and I couldn't put it down. But being an innocent young teenager I was horrified by the violence that men can do to men. The character of Luca Brazzi was terrifying, even though it was just fiction. Even the actor who played him, a former, 6'6" wrestler, was perfect for depicting the quiet, smoldering malevolence as a family 'company' man who took care of the family's enemies in frightening, brutal ways. It was no literary surprise when the Brazzi character met his own brutal karma end.
It's easier to gain an assessment of Don Corleone's three sons, Sonny, Fredo, and Michael watching the movie while the book does go into better detail.
In the book/movie, Michael, the reluctant son, proves the most capable in the intelligence, cunning, and amorality of his father as his two older brothers fall by the wayside. Yet the whole tragedy is that Michael wanted to be a good man of ethics and morals and would have been a very decent man in a normal family. Fredo, the middle brother was also born in the wrong family. Portrayed as the weak brother, Fredo's weakness was that he completely unsuited mentally, psychologically, and emotionally for life in a crime family and to do the kinds of evil and violent things that would be expected of him. Both men, Fredo, and Michael, would have flourished in normal, middle-class to upper middle-class families. It was the eldest son, Sonny (Santino) who possessed the strength, charisma, apparent leadership ability but not the deep intelligence, foresight, perception, self-control or wisdom to lead the Corleone family.
For me the tragedy is not so much the violence or the Corleone family but the two younger brothers, Fredo and Michael, both of whom sincerely and strongly desired to be good men. Fredo's inner weakness led him to betrayal and his ultimate end. Michael's love for his father and family led him to sacrifice the life of a good man for that of an evil crime boss who could give the orders to kill enemies without hesitation and emotion and no regrets.