The best chapter in the Corleone saga

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2002)

It's hard to imagine how 1972's "The Godfather" could have been bettered. A massive commercial and critical success, the first chapter of the Corleone saga was a breathtaking piece of film. When work began on a sequel, few could have thought that it could be a more accomplished film than its predecessor. It is.
Granted, "The Godfather: Part II" cannot be viewed to full effect without viewing the first film. The complex nature of its storyline requires previous knowledge of characters and events. But this is something director Francis Ford Coppola took as a given. In fact most people that went to see this film had probably already seen the first more than once!
Coppola's biggest trump card was the retention of the majority of the cast of "The Godfather". Only Marlon Brando and Richard Castellano declined to return. Interestingly it is Castellano's Clemenza that is missed more sorely than Brando's Vito Corleone (Clemenza's character is replaced by Frankie Pentangeli, played by Michael V. Gazzo). This film does not document the latter years of Vito's life, as in the first film, but continues the story of son Michael (Al Pacino), whilst also foretelling how Vito Andolini, an orphan from the town of Corelone in Sicily, ended up becoming one of the most powerful men in the United States.

Pacino returns as the forlorn Michael. Even more distant than at the conclusion of the original, Pacino's lack of emotion is utterly draining, yet brilliantly portrayed. Other key characters such as Kaye (Diane Keaton), Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), Connie (Talia Shire) and Fredo (John Cazale) also return. Cazale is brilliant as Fredo and his character, which was only a brief mention in the first film, is one of the pivotal elements of this sequel. Method acting guru Lee Strasberg appears as Hyman Roth, Michael's cunning business partner and former associate of his father.

The role of a 20-something Vito Corleone went to Robert De Niro. In a 95% Italian speaking role, De Niro launched his career here. The similarities between himself and Brando are superbly executed and we are convinced that they are one and the same.
The film opens in early 1900's Sicily. In the town of Corleone the male population is slowly being decimated by a mafia lord. Fearing her son's life, Vito Andolini's mother sends her youngest son away to leave the violent shores of Sicily for the opportunity of America. Alone, stricken with smallpox and malnourished, young Vito takes the name of Corleone after his home village. With the Statue of Liberty visible from his Ellis Island window, the world awaits him.
The film then jumps forward to the late 1950's. Now relocated in Nevada, the Corleone family has made inroads into the casino business. Michael's pursuits of power continue to grow. Along the way his path is blocked by numerous naysayers, but the power of the Corleone family often ensures these obstacles are removed or altered without much effort. Doggedly pursuing the goal of absolute power, Michael's single mindedness becomes his undoing. A business partnership with aging criminal Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) is centred on hotels and casinos funded by US money in Havana. Before the business deal gets off the ground Michael's intuition works to his advantage as he uncovers a double-cross. He also finds a traitor inside the family and has to make a decision on how to deal with it. We share Michael's despair as the slow deterioration of the Corleone empire unfolds. It is an utterly engrossing yet bitter tragedy.
Watching the young Vito in tandem with Michael's decline is initially unsettling, yet once we get used to seeing De Niro as Vito we settle into 1900's New York easily enough. Coppola's depiction of Corleone as a man simply striving to make a better world for his family smacks of dewy eyed reverence as little too much, but as an audience we take pride in Vito's code of honour. Like a 20th century Robin Hood, Vito Corleone is a criminal we can be proud of. De Niro's performance as Vito is excellent and he is supported by a stellar Bruno Kirby, who plays the young Peter Clemenza. The early associations that Vito makes stay with him for life  unlike Michael's continuously deteriorating ties with the New York old school capo's.

One thing that we notice with Michael's story is how much it represents the American dream gone wrong. At one stage Roth says to Michael We're bigger than US Steel.' The Mafia, which once operated as a community, now runs like a business. As in big business, allegiances are easily made and broken and Michael finds that it is no longer about code and honour, but wealth and power. This is clearly illustrated to the audience by the paralleled stories of Vito and Michael.
The end of "The Godfather: Part II" leaves the audience exhausted, but in a subliminal way. It's a Shakespearian tragedy in the best sense. It would have been best to end the story there, with an audience that etched out its own idea of where the Corleone family ended up. But Coppola couldn't resist the temptation from Paramount to round the story off in the good but not great "The Godfather: Part III". However, viewed in tandem with the original and the second sequel, it is this chapter of the saga that stands out. Cinematic genius is not a term I throw around, but this film encapsulates it. A timeless classic.