The Godfather is the story of a Mafia family. It follows the rise of Michael Corleone within the family. Michael was once a war hero and did not want to be involved in the family business. When his father is shot though, Michael takes revenge on the people who did it and becomes a part of the Mafia lifestyle. When his older brother is murdered, Michael ascends to become the boss of the family, and proves to be more ruthless than his father and brother combined. The scene that I am analyzing is one where Michael is becoming his nephew’s godfather at his baptism.
The Godfather is a traditionally edited movie. This particular scene however uses Eisenstein’s method of montage editing. Francis Ford Coppola uses
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There are no special camera angles, with the exception of a few close-ups. The camera remains stationary. The meaning of the scene is inferred through the editing and the content. Coppola uses this montage in order to give the audience an insight into Michael. He contrasts religion and murder in order to show the complexity of Michael. The newly baptized baby is without sin, and Michael is his guardian into life. Michael is extremely sinful; he has ordered murder as he is taking the godfather vows. The use of religion and murder contrasted is representative of Michael himself. It is used to show the mix of good and evil in him. In Hegel’s dialectic, Michael is the synthesis, a twisted mix of good and evil. The line between the two has become blurred for him. He claims to reject Satan yet he commits the worst sin. He claims to believe in god, yet does not follow the tenets of religion. He is the guardian of this child without sin, and he is full of sin.
Coppola chose to use a montage in this segment.
The hard cuts between such polar opposites as baptism and murder reflects on the contrasts in the main character. Overall, Coppola used this segment to communicate how twisted Michael has become. Michael can no longer distinguish between good and evil or right and wrong. He only evaluates his actions on whether or not they help him. It also shows the changes he has made in the movie. The baptism and
However, this gives the audience a feel for The Godfather’s power. The color designs, align with the era, nothing too bright, even tone and dark colors to give vibes of the dangerous mysteries that await with yet another assassination. All things considered Michael, the younger brother slated to become a congressman or maybe president, assassinated drug lord Sollozzo and the corrupt police officer McCluskey. Michael falls into the wild card category portraying him, as innocently trying to fit in, as later he developed into the character of “The New Godfather.”
CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON "GODFATHER DEATH", A FAIRY TALE WRITTEN BY JACOB LUDWIG GRIMM AND WILHELM CARL GRIMM
His role in The Godfather is that of the Don, or a commanding officer. He climbs the social ladder in the Corleone family, starting as a member and gains a higher reputation by killing the man believed to have orchestrated the attacks against his father, Virgil Sollozzo, and a corrupt police captain paid by Sollozzo. Michael then travels to Sicily and doesn’t move up in the family for a while. Two years later, his brother Sonny Corleone, who was the acting head of the family after their father was injured, was shot in a phone booth. Michael then returns to America to help out with the family: he assumes Sonny’s role as his father’s heir apparent, a Vice President who steps in when the Don is injured or killed. Once the Don retires, he becomes the new Don and takes over as the head of the crime family.
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The American films The Godfather I and II directed by Francis Ford Coppola, included mise-en-scene to emphasize certain characteristics and themes during both films. In this essay I will discuss how mise-en-scene was used to portray the lives of the Mafia families in the 1940s and 50s.
Unlike Goodfellas, the violence in The Godfather occurs mysteriously and almost magically. The organized crimes and murders simply occur without any mistake in this film. One of the bloody scenes that portray this is the one where Woltz’ bed is covered in blood. This scene was very slick the way Tom Hagen slipped away without being noticed by anyone. Hagen’s visit was to intimidate Woltz by proving that if he had to kill him, he would be able to. Another very violent act was Sonny’s death. This plan was organized carefully by Don Emilio Varzini with the help of Carlo Rizzi, his brother-in-law. Earlier in the film Sonny had beaten Carlo after he heard Carlo was abusing his sister Connie. To get back at him, Carlo viciously beats Connie using his belt. When Sonny hears of this he speeds to Connie’s apartment. As he approaches, Barzini’s men surround Sonny and viciously shoot him to death. This act was also thought out very cautiously by masterminds. Towards the end of the movie, the planned killing of the five other mob leaders is revealed. Michael orders all of the head of the families to be killed so he can be the top Don. Although this scene is violent, it is masked by the ceremony of Michael becoming Connie’s son’s godfather. The mass murder was perfectly planned to
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