My expectations for The Godfather were obviously extremely high, since its widely considered to be possibly the best film ever made. So I was obviously surprised to have conflicting opinions on the film. While I appreciated the obvious achievement in film making, I don't think it will ever be one of my favorite movies.
I'm going to start off with what I did love about the movie. I think it would have been far too easy for a lot of these characters to be static and stereotypical roles, but I was surprised to find the portrayals of the Italian mafia were extremely dynamic and multidimensional. I'm not going to rave about Marlon Brando, because that would take me far too long, so I am going to focus more on Al Pacino as Michael Corleone. Besides Ocean's Thirteen (which I don't think really counts), this was the first time I ever saw Al Pacino in a movie, and it was certainly an impressive introduction to his talents. He was able to portray a myriad of emotions with a mostly stoic facial expression. (side note: I was also shocked at how good-looking Al Pacino used to be! I never would have guessed.) I also really appreciated the complexity of the interesting plot, which was able to hold my attention for the full length of the [very long] movie. I became so involved that I never even tried to guess what was going to happen, although in hindsight it wouldn't have mattered if I had tried. It definitely was anything but predictable.
The reason this would never be my favorite movie is because I was very distracted by the negative portrayal of women in The Godfather. Every female character was either manipulated by their husband, physically or verbally abused, or completely unable to have a sense of free will. Diane Keaton's character Kay patiently waited years for Michael to come home, had two seconds of independent thought when she questioned the methods of the Corleone family, but was immediately labeled as naive and then accepted his marriage proposal. Obviously Connie Corleone/Rizzi was abused by her husband, but never was able to leave her husband, and had to be defended by her brother. Mrs. Corleone is hardly ever even present, unless she's serving a meal. Michael's first wife Apollionia is portrayed first as a silent object, then a ridiculous child ("Watch me drive! Come on!"). In the scheme of the film-making mastery, this may be only a minor flaw, but it bothered me enough that this definitely won't be one of my favorite movies (although now I understand why it's considered such a "guy movie")
1 comment:
I think the portrayal of women is something that the GF sequels address, and--at least in GFII--I don't think it's a deliberate correction as much as intrinsic to the narrative. The Corleone family is patriarchal, without a doubt--in fact, its functionality is dependent upon the women staying out of the men's affairs and taking good care of the households and children. When this breaks down in GFII, it's a sign that changing times are changing the Corleone family--both the crime side and the home side. In GFIII, the attempt to turn Connie into a matriarch is a little more self-consciously progressive, I think, and it kind of doesn't work.
Blah, blah--all that to say that I agree with you about the portrayal of women, and I think that portrayal is significant to any interpretation of the film.
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