Review: The Godfather

5/4

Two weeks ago I watched Apocalypse Now. Last night I watched The Conversation. And today, I viewed perhaps the greatest masterpiece of cinema I have ever seen. The Godfather is the best of the Coppola Big Three, if only for its story.
The film tells the tales of the Corleone family, one of five mob families of New York City. Don Corleone, the boss, is a man of untouchable power, presence and reputation. The same can be said of the actor who played him.
As The Don grows old amidst an inner-city war where business always gets personal, we see one of his sons rise up. It is the only Corleone who has sworn himself against the mafia life. Michael is young and doe-eyed, but he is morally tough as nails.
It seems to be after his father gets shot for the first time that Michael succumbs to the pull of vengeance associated with the world of the family. As more actions from the families attack him personally, he gets hopelessly entangled.
This film is less artistically expressive than Coppola's other two--both of which came after. Perhaps he found his footing after the wild success of The Godfather and either freed himself or advanced his vision. In any case, I must say that I feel that Coppola's job in this film was merely to hold together Mario Puzo's story. Nino Rota's score was necessary, the actors couldn't have had any flaws, and Coppola needed to understand the inner workings of the world of the novel in order to pull it off, but it was Puzo that did all the work, before Coppola even came into the picture. My, what a rewarding experience it would be to read this novel of his.....
I truly think that my newfound love for this movie lies in its world. The business is endlessly interesting to me--almost as if I would give anything to go back in time and be a part of it. It is a complex system of trust. It also has a questionable meaning; after Don gets out of the hospital and asks for peace amongst the families, I believe that he has seen the fleeting quality of life and for a moment disbelieved in the importance of his business.
I suppose that this is one of the ultimate character transformations. I would hate myself if I wrote that this was 1972's Breaking Bad, so I won't. I wish that Sonny wouldn't have died, I wish that Tom would have kept his high position, and I'm glad that Michael took over, assuming Vito had to die, but I wish that he would have kept strong, stuck to the loyalty and reason of his father, and perhaps ended the mafia war, maybe even the mafia, once and for all. I did not want Michael to go bad. I had such a great love and respect for this character. Wow... how I don't want him to stay like this. What a change.
But with this movie, not it successors, I do not want to focus on the transformation of Michael. That is where a moral disrespect starts to boil within me and bias me. The rest of the film is so great to me. I wish I had a whole film of the simple goings-on of Vito Corleone as Don, Tom Hagen as consigliere, Michael in war and at home, and Sonny as the hot-headed but loyal son. I just want this family, a hundred times over. Their world is so fascinating to me, I love to know their positions, see them address conflicts, handle business, etc. Unfortunately, a film and a novel need narrative. I just want to see the inner workings of an interesting, hierarchical, dangerous business. Maybe I really do need to watch The Wire.

A few days later, I decided that The Godfather is the greatest movie I have ever seen, and in my top few favorites.