The Godfathers of today

Rating: 10/10 (28 May 2017)

First there was John Cassavetes, then Francis Ford Coppola. Epic in scope while maintaining a patience and intimacy characteristic of European art cinema, THE GODFATHER is rightly considered one of the greatest films ever made.
There is something deeply resonant in the film's treatment of filial piety, the need for respect, and Western culture's abiding interest in the parallel moral universe of the Mafia. Particularly when trying to understand how the establishment and the corporations that form operate today, having drawn so many lessons from the modus-operandi of mafias and narco-trafficking cartels around the globe. The CEO's of Barclays and HSBC as the latest incarnations of what Marlon represents in the title role of this film: an all-consuming, naked ambition of power, who are always more than ready and eager to splash vast quantities of other people's blood in the pursuit of profit, while hiding behind minions to do it.
This film continues to influence producers of films, television shows, and video games more than 30 years after its release. Nino Rota's score, Gordon Willis' chiaroscuros, the sumptuous set design, and Brando's raspy pseudo-whisper have become part of our collective cultural memory.
The film possesses an operatic quality, yet it's more understated than it is flamboyant. It takes its subjects seriously, bestowing legitimacy upon the internecine power struggles of the Mafia normally reserved for classical themes in high art. The film's release initiated a period when American filmmakers dared to take themselves and their artistic ambitions seriously, like the French New Wave and Free Cinema in the UK had done before them.