What makes it so good?

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2006)

What makes this movie so good? It's, most fundamentally, and perhaps most subtly, that rich, full, religious-like piety (the kind that's earnest) that it exhibits, for the family, for loyalty in general, for a kind of life of crime that inspires reverence for the criminals rather than condemnation, as if somehow these criminals are martyrs who must do all the dirty work while protecting, or at least pretending to protect, their family and others from it. The movie has a belief in honor and traditionit also has a strong belief in power, though, a commitment to it. The respect for family in these movies is inexorably connected to the inconspicuous (or perhaps conspicuous)celebration of Don Corleone and his son Michael "doing what it takes," acting illicitly as a kind of sacrifice, out of manly volition; in this aspect Michael and his father are like Fortinbras as opposed to Hamlet; by acting decisively they answer Hamlet's "to be or not to be[?]" with a firm "to be." When they reflect they are more like Hamlet himself, though they do not match Hamlet's scope of thought, but the movie supplies that missing profundity with the diffusive effect which is common to all films as inspired as this one: the look is just right, the pace, the music, the blocking and the photography in general.