the saga continues

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2008)

The first 'Godfather' film was a beautifully rendered, violent and at times even warmhearted look inside a Mafia crime family. It deserved all the accolades it received for direction, cinematography, art direction and of course those wonderful performances by Brando, Pacino, Caan, Duvall and the rest of the cast. I think it's fair to say no one expected the sequel to outshine the original, but to many peoples' minds, somehow it did. It is even more intricate and expansive, presenting two stories at great length, one taking place before the first film and the other, continuing the first's narrative. 'The Godfather Part II' has been called both the greatest sequel of all time and the greatest American film, period. It was nominated for 11 Oscars. The 'sequel' part of the film concerns Michael Corleone's attempts to hold his family and its 'business' together after the death of Vito Corleone. Times are changing and he sees an opportunity to invest in Havana's casinos with the help of Hyman Roth, a former associate of his father's, and the pre-Castro, pro-business government in Cuba. The plot of 'Part II' is difficult to follow at times; there are double-crosses, and perceived double-crosses that really aren't, and it's hard to know who is sincere about what. The only thing that is certain is that everyone looks after their own interests and there is no hesitation in using murder as a final negotiating tool. Killings and attempted killings continue, but in this film, they are more methodical and cold-blooded. Toward the end, Tom Hagen even asks Michael Corleone if he feels the need to kill everyone. No, Michael says, just our enemies. But when one of those 'enemies' turns out to be his own brother, Fredo, it is clear that things have changed in the Corleone family, and not for the better. Francis Ford Coppola spoke of the inevitable decline in the Corleone family and it is very apparent, never more so than when Michael gives the order to have Fredo murdered. The 'prequel' segments are, by contrast, very simple and tell the story of how Vito Corleone arrived in America and began to build his empire. Robert DeNiro does not so much replace Marlon Brando as offer an interpretation of Corleone as a young man. There is wonderful period detail in these scenes; the tenement neighborhoods of the recently arrived Italians, living in their own section of New York, bits of broken English beginning to find their way into the mother tongue. It's all filmed in sepia-tinted color, which creates the feeling of a time passed, like looking at old photographs. Unlike the 1950's plot, the turn-of-the-century story is fairly cut-and-dried. Vito Corleone marries, starts a family, and begins a loose partnership with other young immigrants in what will eventually become the Corleone crime family. He kills the neighborhood crime boss, the one who collected protection money from all the local businesses, and effectively replaces him and the old way, becoming a more benevolent, friendlier version of the Black Hand, if no less lethal when the need arises. He even finds time to travel back to Sicily and visit revenge on the aged crime lord there who had murdered members of his family. 'The Godfather Part II' is filled with memorable performances, all of the continuing characters portrayed by the same actors as the first film. It is an epic undertaking and rewards repeated viewings with new detail unnoticed previously, not to mention better understanding of the labyrinth plot intrigues. It is also ultimately depressing, in a way the first movie wasn't. In spite of everything, the audience was pulling for the Corleone family to succeed and win out over its enemies in 'The Godfather;' I don't think that's the case at the end of 'The Godfather Part II.'