The ultimate drama?

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2003)

`I believe in America' are the first words spoken in The Godfather. The fact that they resonate with such power to someone who has no personal or professional ties with the country speaks volumes.
My first viewing of this film was anticipated with equal amounts excitement and trepidation. How could a film of such enormous stature possibly live up to anyone's expectations, let alone mine? Over two and a half hours later I realised I would probably never see a finer film in my life. And about six or seven years on from that revelatory experience, that view grows ever stronger. With the exception of The Godfather Part Two that is. But that's a film for another day.
The Godfather is now so much a part of our culture that it becomes difficult to talk about it as a film by itself. Entire books have been written on how it has not only affected change in the way films are conceived by individuals and whole studios, but also the very nature of the film industry itself. At the time nobody could have predicted that a lengthy (and costly) film set in the 1940's with a relatively little know cast and a serious and weighty subject matter could have made such a huge profit at the box office. Much like in the film itself, ambition and bravado is rewarded with great success and power, and this was true for many of the cast and crew with their subsequent careers.
There may be spoilers ahead but the plot and events in this film are now so well documented I doubt anyone will be surprised.
The film opens with a wedding taking place between Don Vito Corleone's daughter, Connie and Carlo, a wannabe member of the Family. While the celebrations take place outside in glorious sunshine, in the darkened rooms of the main house Don Vito pays court to various people requesting help with whatever problems they need assistance with. This is where Bonasera, a local baker, opens the film with the aforementioned line and seeks revenge on two men who savagely beat his daughter after she refused their advances. The subsequent conversation sets the tone for the rest of the film. Respect is always demanded from those in power and who are willing to use that power to benefit you. But there may always be a favour required by The Don in return. Later in the film, this favour is repaid to The Don in a way that is both shocking and relieving to Bonasera. Every element in this first scene demands attention from the audience and rewards them by setting a very high standard thereon. The way the camera slowly pulls back from Bonasera to reveal The Don listening to the story as we are, the use of lighting to almost hide The Don's eyes in the darkness, and the expressions, the voice and even the movement of Marlon Brando as The Don immediately put us in the company of one of THE great acting performances. Also attendant at the wedding are The Don's sons, Sonny the firey tempered James Cann, the weak willed Fredo played by John Cazale and Michael, the youngest and most cool headed of the brothers, played as such by Al Pacino. As with Brando, you are assured career defining performances by all three men, and I don't think any of them reached these acting heights again. Equally impressive but not strictly a family member is Robert Duvall as The Don's Consilgerie, Tom Hagen.
In a nutshell (if such a thing were possible) the film follows the reluctant but necessary rise of Michael to the head of The Family and his dealings with his immediate family, his wife Kay (Diane Keaton), the ranked members that protect their Family (Tessio, Clemenza, etc), other Mafia Families and corrupt state officials. Throughout the film Michael's views on his involvement with his Family change from the events that happen to his father after The Don refuses to involve his Families resources in distributing drugs into the city. When The Don is gunned down and left for dead in the street, and Michael has his jaw broken by corrupt Police Captain McCluskey, whilst trying to protect his unguarded father in the hospital, he sets in motion the revenge killing of both McCluskey and Sollozzo, the man partly responsible for the attempt on Don Vito. The result of the ensuing incredible set piece makes it necessary for Michael to leave the country to Sicily until it is safe to return. There he experiences both happiness and tragedy, as he takes a new bride, Apollonia, and receives news that Sonny was killed for a hit he had ordered on a rival Families son in previous retribution for the hit on The Don. Sonny's death scene is itself one of the most memorable set pieces in all of cinema. When a failed attempt on Michael leaves Apollonia dead, he returns to America, cold and hardened by these terrible events. There he begins to pick up where he left his life with Kay and moves to become his fathers heir.
The phrase that there is honour among thieves is nowhere more relevant than in The Godfather. Michael, Sonny, Fredo and Tom are bound together by the respect and loyalty they hold for their father (in Tom's case, unofficially adopted) and the Corleone name. Their Family will always come before anything else, as shown when Michael leaves for Sicily without much of a thought towards Kay (being both Jewish and a woman excludes her from the Family), or when Sonny rushes to his sister Connie's aid (and ultimately his demise) after she receives another vicious beating by Carlo.

Some of the most fondly remembered and famous scenes in cinema occur throughout The Godfather. The sequence with Khartum's severed head is an undisputed classic for both the shock value and for showing us early on how far and what type of methods the Family will employ. Sonny's murder is brutal and affecting, the attempted hit on The Don is wonderfully staged with the camera looking down on the event from above, the cumulative killings of the heads of the five Families at the end is a masterpiece of editing (note to George Lucas circa Phantom Menace. This is how you direct separate climactic events that reach toward the same goal!) , and these are only some of the major events that take place. There are so many great lines that it would be fruitless to list even some of them here, as many of them are now as much a part of the English language as any piece of classic text. What I will mention however, are the delivery on some of the lesser known phrases. When Tom has to tell The Don that `They shot Sonny on the causeway. He's dead', it's a heartbreaking moment both for himself, The Don and the audience and we can completely emphasise with their pain. The fact that we can emphasise at all with these criminals and killers is not only due to the acting, writing and directing of these characters, but that the Corleone Family is just that shade more moral and honourable than the other Families depicted in the film. When The Don calls a meeting with the heads of the five Families to clear the bad blood between them and prepare for Michael's return to America, his delivery of the line `..but I'm a superstitious man..' and subsequent warning is so powerful and commanding that nobody but Brando could have pulled it off with such weight and grandeur. When Michael asks the powerful Vegas hotel owner Moe Green that `You straightened out my brother?' the threat' is so tangible that Moe is immediately sorry and Fredo tries to make light of the situation by assuring Mike that he and Moe are best of friends. Thus begins the tragic downfall of Fredo At the beginning of the film when Michael is telling Kay about his family he assures her that `That's my family Kay, it's not me'. At the end of the film he tells her `Don't ask me about my business Kay'. Both times he is completely sincere and believable.
All throughout the film there are little moments where there may not be any dialogue or anything particularly important that happens to the plot, but they made such an impression on me that I have to mention some of them. The moment when Sonny bites down on his fist so (I assume) he wouldn't swear in front of Connie when he sees the bruise marks left on her face by Carlo, gave me goosebumps. The shot of the Statue of Liberty in the backdrop after Clemenza takes Paulie out to pick up some Cannelloni and has Rocco kill him and leave him bleeding in the car. The simple shrug of The Don's eyebrows when Tom returns from meeting Jack Woltz, and the previous shot was hearing Woltz's continued screams after finding the head of his beloved horse Khartum, in his bed when he awoke. The impeccable way Michael looks, dresses and carries himself when we first see him after returning from America as he steps out of a car toward Kay, and the way Brando's face literally crumbles as he is told of Sonny's death.
Every technical element in this film is of the highest level. The cinematography is beautifully composed and framed, the period designs of New York are utterly believable and we never assume we're in any other time. The music is simply stunning and perfectly highlights the mood of the characters throughout, with the main theme one of the most recognisable pieces of music in cinema. When watching this, the film simply FEELS rich. I take a great sense of importance and history from it, as though it's not merely a film but something much bigger. And there are plenty of arguments to support this, given the massive impact it has left not only on the film industry, but also on American businesses, commerce and crime. There are many stories of real life Mafiosi who base their lifestyle and way of conducting business on the Corleone way.
I think the best compliment I can pay to The Godfather is that once the door is closed on Kay's face and we've both been shut out, I feel like I've witnessed an event, rather than just watch a film.