![]() ![]() Establishing Vito as a family man from his introduction conveys his emotional priorities to the viewer. It’s shot with a delicacy that almost feels out of place for a mafia movie, even one so focused on the familial. When we first see Vito as a grown man, he is in a small apartment, gazing lovingly upon his infant son, Santino. He comes of age in America, living in an Italian immigrant neighborhood in New York City. Both men are presented as shrewd businessmen, but it is their difference in raising their families that ultimately separates them, indicting Michael and acquitting Vito.Īt the turn of the century, Vito escapes from his native Sicily after the murder of his family by the local Don. As Michael’s ability to keep his family together wanes, Vito navigates his newfound influence as a way to protect his young family and community. The interplay of the two narratives are a call and response through time. The Godfather Part II follows two distinct, adversely proportional plot lines: the creation of the Corleone mafia family by Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) – a Sicilian immigrant – at the turn of the century, and the decline of the Corleone’s influence under Michael as he struggles with personal crisis. To further study the connection between the bonds you are born with and the bonds you create, The Godfather Part II juxtaposes Michael Corleone and his father Vito’s approaches to being husbands and fathers, examining their motivations and responsibilities, and highlighting the places where they intersect and deviate to warn about the danger inherent in conflating family and business. The Godfather trilogy is inherently a commentary on family: the ways in which the organization of the mafia can mimic familial structure, a questioning of what one is willing to sacrifice for blood relatives, a negotiation of familial loyalty and business savvy. “I don’t know the people who gave them to me.” “I got a lot of presents,” Anthony responds. This is not lost on Anthony, however, which we see as Michael tucks Anthony into bed after the gunmen have been found (and killed) on the property. Any celebration held by the Corleones is marked by an intertwining of business deals and sacred oaths sworn in the presence of family. But because he is a Corleone, that means that the party was never really his to begin with, only a façade for Don Michael Corleone to conduct business safely. While the festivities from earlier in the day had technically been in honor of Anthony, like many parties that happen when you are a child, the party just happened around him and not exactly for him. ![]() Whether or not he was aware of it yet was a different story entirely. Their connection to their Sicilian heritage was slowly fading. ![]() In Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) uprooting of the family from New York to Lake Tahoe, something important had been lost. There was dancing and a band-one that didn’t know any of the old Sicilian songs, though (something to be lamented). But by being strong for his family, could he lose it?” - Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part IIīefore the gunshots, it had been a long day of celebration Anthony Corleone had been confirmed in the Catholic church. What did Papa think-deep in his heart? He was being strong-strong for his family. ![]()
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