The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola is to this day considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. This film has many aspects to it that give it the special feeling that make it so fantastic. The Godfather is based off of the book of the same name written in 1969 by Mario Puzo. The film is very close to that of the book, Puzo actually helped adapt the book into a screenplay. The film was released in 1972 and stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, and James Caan. Coppola’s film was nominated for nine Academy Awards that year. Out of the nine that the film was nominated for, three of them were won and one was disqualified. The film was so successful that it went on and had two sequels made The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. Coppola uses a combination of great narrative, unique camera movements, and awesome cinematography to create his classic film.
One of the things that makes The Godfather so special is the way that the story is told. This film’s main theme is family, and the relationship of the Corleone is what makes and helps the narrative progress. To me family is the key aspect of this film; the entire plot revolves around the family affairs. The reason that I say this is because from the opening scene the characters are talking about family matters and how family is important to Don Corleone. During his daughters wedding Vito doesn’t want to take the family picture until his youngest son Michael is there. You can tell that he truly cares about his family and treats them well at the same time. When Vito’s oldest son Sonny is killed, he goes to the heads of all of the families and makes a truth so that the rest of his family will not be harmed. Don Corleone proves multiple times throughout the film that he will do anything to protect the ones that he loves. Even on the day that Vito dies he is spending time with his family, the thing that he has always cared about. Most of the characters in this film are of Italian descent and speak in Italian. Coppola decided that when his characters speak in Italian that there are no subtitles for the audience to read. This effect adds ambiguity to the film because the audience cannot understand what is being said, for all we know these line could be very important to the plot of the story. For me personally I like the fact that there are no subtitles, it makes you have to pay more attention to the other aspects of the film so you know what is going on.
Coppola uses many unique tricks to help create a very visual story. The angles and the position that eh camera is placed throughout this entire film help create different feelings depending on what is happening in the scene. Coppola uses many odd angles to give his scene a more dramatic feeling to them. When there is a murder happening we usually have a point of view shot, so we get to see who is being killed. Unless we know whom the murderer is there hats or shadows usually conceal their faces. I noticed during the movie that when Michael was naïve and young the camera was for the most part looking down at him. As the film progressed and he became more ruthless, the camera would look up at him and give him a godly complexion. There were many symmetrical shot’s in the film of Michael, one of the most notable one, was in the very last scene of the film. We see down a long hallway with Michael at his desk shaking the hands of his men, at this moment we can tell that Michael has lied to his wife about killing his brother-in-law Carlo. Coppola uses symmetrical and deep shots during dramatic scenes to make the audience feel more tense so they can feel involved in the film.
When watching this film, there are many points where you can tell that Francis Ford Coppola put a lot of thought into the scenes. One of the things that I love most about this film is the cinematography that was used. Every scene in this film was so well thought out and each looked beautiful in there own way. The very first scene of the film, we see that Vito is purposely being avoided from the camera, the tone within this scene is perfect; it’s mysterious and dark just like the unseen host of the wedding. Another beautiful scene in this film is the one when Vito dies. Everything in this scene is so colorful and vibrant and yet there are still shadows over Vito’s face to give him that aspect of mystery that we see in the first scene. Though we know what he looks like, the mystery that I talk about is towards his persona and background, which will be explained in the sequel. During the film I noticed that there was not much tonal contrast, everything within a scene pretty much had the same tone. The contrast that I noticed was when the scene was outdoors everything was lit beautifully.
The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola is to this day considered to be a work of pure cinema genius. This film has been nominated for many awards, and it deserves them. From its all-star cast to its cinematography The Godfather offers everything that a great film is suppose to have. This film is considered to be one of the greats and will continue its legacy for many years to come. Movies in present day are not made with the talent and effort that was put into this masterpiece. It is because of this film is why Francis Ford Coppola is considered to be one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. I would highly recommend that anyone should watch any of Coppola’s films.
Francis Ford Coppola 