Francis Ford Coppola, whose directorial expression is often referred to as the ruling New Hollywood power, in the film world, often carries the title "Godfather", which creates a reference to not only his film creations, but also the entire film system that was created during his film career. This, of course, relates to the inextricable relation of the director's identity and his most successful and most famous film achievements that must be observed within the context of the complex film world. The Godfather (1972) undoubtedly represents the moment of a surprising breakthrough in a film career that, with its structure, resembles a comprehensive realistic novel.
Metamorphosis from the gangster into an intimate family story
The Godfather originally emerges as a film interpretation of novel of the same name, and the genre covers a wide area,from the criminal and gangster film to, as Coppola himself formulates, the intimate family story of father and his sons. Considering the year is 1966, year when there is a decline in Hollywood censorship, and when, after a long period of time, it becomes possible to shoot a gangster film that will not depend on the balance of good and bad deeds, and in which repentance or punishment of sinners is no longer necessary. In this context, the film can be considered as the carrier of the power of a gangster film, which, after a period of censorship, is again affirming in cinema and experiencing its flourishing.
A representation of gangster life, that is, criminal acts and the conduct of violence, in the 1970s was a generally accepted part of the popular culture. However, apart from strengthening the gangster narrative, this non-standard long trilogy depicted the saga of the Corleone family and spilled over to moral issues of power and class elevation, putting it in the wider context of corporate philosophy.
Family Corleone
The whole story follows conventions of a classical narrative structure, leaving space for the development of various aspects of the action and their interconnection. Already at the very beginning of the first part of the trilogy the viewer opens the Corleone family with clearly contrasting family and business relations and laws. Since it is almost impossible for under-performing film studios to successfully and comprehensively submit to the trilogy's analysis, and a mere listing of events would have been dozens of pages, it is important to highlight the underlying principles of the extremely complex film world that is being discussed here. Namely, only a few pages can be written about the introductory scene of the first sequel.
The scene itself belongs to the sequence in which the wedding of Don Vita Corleone (Marlon Brando) takes place, and begins with his dialogue with a man who begs him for revenge for the rapists of his daughter in which his appearance remains hidden to cause expectation to the viewer and stress the importance of the man standing behind the whole family. By the end of the sequence, the viewer sees the main characters and enters an authoritative patriarchal world in which, with the family, the highest value is loyalty, and the greatest crime is betrayal.
This truly comprehensive film achievement is insight into the world of the mafia, in which there is undoubtedly charm and attraction. Namely, this is a story of power that is transmitted by the inheritance of Don Corleone's moral center, which in any case can be thanked for the impressive and glorious, often mimicked, acting performance of Marlon Brando, Coppola's directing, and the structuring of a film action that creates sympathy to the main characters. At the moment of Don Corleone's death, the viewer gets the impression that the death of a great man ends an entire era.
By introducing viewers into the closed film world of the Corleone family, Coppola turns us into a kind of followers of characters who are in no way innocent. The world is closed to contemporary ideology and social values, and the relationship between the world of the mafia and the outside world is portrayed exclusively through the interweaving of the two spheres, or the direct influence of gangster and mafia relations on the family situation, and this is often a simple cause-and-effect relationship. So, the narrative of the trilogy is undoubtedly directed to the violation of conservative family laws in the world of the upcoming gangster business, regardless of whether it is a war between mob family or whether it is subjected to illegal activities.
Coppola doesn't hesitate to contrast the perfect atmosphere of warm family gatherings and brutal and organized violence carried out as a result of the actions of certain family members. It's almost impossible, therefore, to avoid a parallel assembly process in which the scene in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) pronounces vows during the baptism of his nephew changes with the representations of the execution of a series of brutal murders according to his order (thus becoming in both contexts the Godfather) or while playing with lighting in the aforementioned introductory scene where business decisions are made in a semi-obscure office while a wedding takes place outside, which consistently portrays the face that the family seeks to keep in society. Hence, tension arises between the public and the social position, which is the goal of what is happening "behind the curtain," which undoubtedly shows the hiding of criminal acts behind ritual social activities.
The Godfather rests on its own laws that define a wide range of activities, through family relationships to those of hostile ones, and which appear in the circles as necessary. Here it's important to recall the young and rebellious Michael Corleone who comes in a family uniform with a non-immigrant girl, accompanying a family wedding, which shows the tendency to live in civil society and far from the criminal interest of his family. Nevertheless, his efforts to leave the mafia roots undoubtedly remain unsuccessful, even after he is at the forefront of family business, precisely because his past and Italian roots don't allow this.
In this context Coppola deals with the issue of ethics. At the very end of the trilogy, Michael Corleone nevertheless succeeds in getting closer to legal business to discover that even in this world, power is built on dishonesty, which in this case can be understood as an open-minded critique of liberal capitalism, which continues the tradition of the classic gangster film. Michael Corleone never succeeds in reaching that idyllic family life that his father Vito Corleone insisted on, but his life is becoming an eternal struggle to affirm with his family in a legal and civil society, so he quickly loses the hero's title and transforms himself in a cruel gangster whose destiny marks an eternal remorse.
This was my translation from Croatian to English from Ziher hr article ''Pogled u Šekspirsku trilogiju'' by D.Ivezic
