A fine film that ages gracefully

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2004)

I have just watched again. It is an ambitious story, spanning more than fifty years. It is a story of the first half of the twentieth century in America, as the country coped with waves of immigration, prohibition, war in Europe, the post-war boom, and rebellion in Cuba.
The first part of the Godfather trilogy offers only a foretaste of the heart of the Godfather story arc: the genesis of the Corleone family business with young Vito Corleone, played with easy confidence by Robert De Niro; and the hardening of Michael Corleone, played with mesmerizing intensity by Al Pacino.
* spoilers from here onward *
The movie is peppered with iconic and powerful images: a young Vito Corleone (Andolini) singing hymns while quarantined at Ellis Island, Vito executing his first hit with a towel-wrapped pistol, Michael bestowing a kiss of death on his brother Fredo, Michael gazing out his boathouse window as he awaits the fate of his brother, Hyman Roth's Lee-Harvey-Oswald-style assassination in a scrum of press and security.
The movie is shot artfully, though at times is lit a bit dimly. The location selection and set decoration are attentively and evocatively rendered as we follow Vito's rise. It is easy to forget that the segements showing Michael's fall are also period shots, set about twenty-five years prior to filming, as they are unforced and ring true.
The vengeful, unforgiving Sicilian code depicted in the film undoes all that is good in Vito and Michael. They are devoted family men, loyal to their sympathizers, supportive of their community, and admired for their wisdom. But they kill to win their independence from authority, to secure their power, to eliminate dissenters, and to settle decades-old vendettas. Michael's obsession with securing his power causes him to imprison then estrange his wife, order the death of his own brother, betray his old friends, and embrace his rivals. He is left with an empire and no one to share it with: his parents and brothers are dead, wife gone, children afraid, and so on. His only solace is the brow-beaten sister who returns to live with him in the family compound, and his similarly brow-beaten adoptive brother, Tim Hagen.
The supporting cast is excellent, particularly Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall, as well as Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, and Bruno Kirby.
I had previously recorded my vote for this movie as an eight, but have now revised it to a nine of ten.
igm