Today's guest contributor is writer, artist, fanzine publisher, and animator Natalia C. Lopes. A graduate of North Carolina State University's Master's Degree Program of the College of Art & Design, her essay below is an analysis of director-producer Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather epic, specifically the fraught relationship between Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael.
Michael's Failure to Be Like His FatherBoth different and alike, Michael and Vito Corleone's relationship is an unique one. All of his life Don Vito has tried to set a different path for his youngest son than the one he himself had chosen as a child. But when Michael is faced with his family threatened, he takes on the role of the don, or "Godfather," and tries his best to fill his father's shoes. However, as time passes, both his friends and his enemies realize that he could never be like his father, that this was not the path he wanted for himself. And it is not until the end of Part II that Michael realizes that perhaps everyone was right all along. Unfortunately, the lesson is hard learned.
Throughout both Godfather movies, Vito is portrayed as a respectable and admired don to the Corleone family. He listens to all who come to him and can "take care" of anyone's troubles simply by "making them an offer they can't refuse." When we, the audience, are first introduced to Vito's youngest son, Michael Corleone, who has just returned from serving in the army during World War II, we note that he seems a bit different from his other siblings, in that he doesn't want to get involved in the same "business" as his father, that is, the Mafia. Instead, he has a desire to create his own path. We can see that in the mere fact of his dating Kay, an American woman who is outside of the family loop and tradition - and who does not understand the ways of Michael's family.
We can see a prime example of his dislike for the Mafia when he and Kay are at his sister Connie's wedding. Michael tells her that his father kills for a living and threatens people's lives to avenge his family and friends. He distinctly claims that it's his dad's business, yet he wants no part in it. From that moment forward, the audience feels a great sympathy for him, in that we want him to succeed in creating his own path.
With all of that in mind, however, Michael takes an unexpected turn that manifests itself in Part I, where, with his father's life at stake, he takes extreme measures to seek vengeance for the family. When in the hospital, at his father's bedside, he tells him "I'm with you, Pop," this means that he has finally crossed over to the other side and decided to be part of the Mafia after all. While we see his father in tears as he hears his son say this, it is a very ominous scene, mostly because the audience cannot tell whether or not Vito's tears are of joy or of sorrow.
This is because later we find out that Vito did not want Michael to take on the family business. This is made much more prominent in Part II, where we see the young Vito's efforts to shield his son away from doing so. As much as he voices his dislike for his father's business, toward the last half of Part I Michael decides to take action and to "be a man" in order to protect his family. In the famous scene where the camera closes in on Michael sitting among his brothers, he speaks of killing Sollozzo, the individual behind the attempt on his father Vito's life, and the corrupt police captain, McCluskey. Nobody takes him seriously when he says this, because his brothers know him as the baby brother who didn't want to get involved in the family "business". Yet he insists that he will kill them both, so they let him do it just to see what he's really made of.
As it turns out, he succeeds in killing both Sollozzo and McCluskey, yet he does not follow directions on how to do it. While the specific details are not necessary to point out in this scene, it shows how Michael was, despite his strong words, afraid of killing them, something that Vito would not hesitate to do to his enemies - especially those who had threatened his family at an early age.
However, once Vito decides to make Michael the new don, he shares a moment with him outside of his house in which he explains to Michael that "I didn't want this for you." He would much rather have his youngest son be known as "Senator Corleone," "Governor Corleone," or someone of political power. And with the mood of the scene, it feels as though Vito has been waiting his whole life to say that to Michael directly.
Throughout the two films, we see Vito's efforts in keeping Michael away from following the Godfather's path. While in the past he killed the two heads of the Mafia in Sicily and in Nevada (and, we might add, he killed them both brilliantly and brutally), he did it to protect his family. We can see that after he has killed Don Fanucci, Vito walks over to his family and holds Michael in his arms, telling him, "Your father loves you very much, very very much." The interesting part about this scene is that he tells this specifically to Michael. Upon his saying that line, Vito has set him apart from the rest of his sons, in hopes that Michael would not have to go to such extreme lengths to protect his family.
Sadly, despite all of Vito's best efforts, Michael becomes the don and takes over officially after his father's death. The fascinating part is that Vito placed his full trust in him, so that when some of his own men hesitate to obey Michael's orders, Vito tells them, "If you trust me, then listen to my son."
While he seems as if he is meeting his father's expectations, later on Michael becomes a far more aggressive killer, and at times the exact opposite of his father. He starts ordering people to kill left and right, for example, the heads of the five families, Connie's abusive husband Carlo, and even his own brother, something he later bitterly regrets. He also does not care to hear people's objections, and fails to satisfactorily take care of those who come to him for advice. Tom Hagen, his adopted brother, comes to him toward the end of Part II to ask, "Are you going to kill everybody?" To which Michael casually replies, "Only my enemies," which goes to show just how many of them he supposedly had.
Toward the end, people lose trust and confidence in him, and begin to question his methods, especially after killing his own brother, an act that contradicted the theme of family togetherness the entire Godfather series has emphasized. And the saddest part of it all is that it is only at the very last scene that we realize how much the decision to become the don has taken its toll on him.
He is left alone contemplating, the camera slowly closing in on his face, which is worn and tired. For the first time since Part I, the audience has regained its sympathy for him. As much as he tried his hardest to make his own destiny, Michael was not really meant to fill his father's shoes. Only at that moment does he realize this.
Copyright © 2007 by Natalia C. Lopes
