The Godfather film review

The Godfather film review

The film industry has been identified as a critical avenue that plays the vital role in the depiction of a society in a way that helps us to understand the communities, culture as well as other social institutions that we live in better. Besides the entertainment role that the film industry plays in the facilitation of leisure activities, among other significant functions, movies also serve as a mirror through which people can view themselves from different perspectives.

This way, it is possible to make adjustments based on the way we view our lives in the film in an attempt to improve the reality on the ground. Various film genres cover multiple topics ranging from drama, thrillers, crime, and science fiction, among other different thematic concerns. However, corruption and drama have been viewed to be among the most covered topics in the world of the film, given their direct attribute to relating matters in society.

The film is an essential part of our social structure and has been identified to have numerous positive contributions to society including, the provision of a moral compass, rebuking social vices such as crime, corruption, oppression, among others. As a result, there is the necessity to ensure that there is the investment of the required resources in this industry that will facilitate the dissemination of more informative content to viewers, which is essential for societal development.

Film review- “The Godfather.”

“The Godfather” is an American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that got released in the year 1972. Based on the novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo, the film was a significant success and has gone ahead to win various accolades and was even selected by the United States national film registry for preservation in the library of congress in the National Film Registry. The film revolves around the life of a New York drug crime family that gets engulfed in drug wars and ends up losing a lot in terms of family and communal relations.

The film set was in 1945, and the plot development starts at the wedding of Connie, who gets wedded to Carlo Rizzi. At the wedding, Don Vito Corleon, Connie’s father, receives the request to join a famous New York-based crime family as the head. At the wedding reception, Don Vito’s son by the name Michael also introduces his girlfriend, Kay Adams. Michael, the youngest son, served as a marine during the Second World War. Before the beginning of the Christmas festivities, a famous New York drug baron by the name Virgil Sollozzo also referred to as “The Turk,” approaches Vito asking him to join his drug corporation using his political connections. In return, “The Turk” promises Vito protection as well as a sizeable return on profits from the drug sales made.

However, Don Vito is averse of risking his ongoing estate for a risky venture that is likely to affect the legitimacy of his affluence. He, therefore, turns down this offer and sends Luca Brasi to spy on Virgil Sollozzo, where he gets garroted during his meeting with Sollozo and Bruno Tattaglia. In a later plot development, Sollozzo has Don Vito gunned down in the streets, which leads to a war outbreak between the Vito’s and the New York-based crime led by Virgil Sollozzo and Bruno Tattaglia. With Don Vito gone, his son Sonny takes over the leadership. Vito survives, and at the hospital, Michael thwarts another attempt on his father (Schuller, Björn, et al. 2009). Michael’s jaw is broken by NYPD Captain Marc McCluskey, Sollozzo’s unofficial bodyguard (Schuller, Björn, et al. 2009). Sonny retaliates with a hit on Bruno Tattaglia. Michael plots to murder Sollozzo and McCluskey; feigning a desire to settle the dispute, Michael meets them in a Bronx restaurant, where after retrieving a planted handgun, he kills both men (Schuller, Björn, et al. 2009).

This leads to an escalation in the ongoing war whereby five families are involved in a tug of war, and the authorities are forced to intervene. In the height of the tension between the five families, Sonny gets into a heated exchange with Rizzi and threatens to kill him in case he abuses Connie again. This happens again, but unfortunately, as sonny speeds to their home, he is ambushed on the highway by heavily gunmen and is killed in a shooting (Schuller, Björn, et al. 2009). The death of Sonny devastates Don Vito, and he resolves to settle the feud between the warring families. This is to be achieved by stopping his fight against the heroin business, and also he swears not to avenge his son’s death.

The plot development conclusion ends with the death of Don Vito in 1955, where he suffers a heart attack, and his burial is scheduled on the baptism day of Connie’s child. During the child’s baptism, Don Vito’s assassins murder the other New York Dons, and Michael, who is the godfather for Connie’s child, extracts a confession from Carlo for setting up the killing of Sonny. At the end of it, all Michael gets crowed as the new don as the door close behind the scene.

Are the sacrifices of joining a community worth the benefits of being a member of that community?

“The Godfather” is a film that has managed to present the viewers with the various happenings that occur in the society, as well as the price that the partakers of these actions are forced to pay. Crime is a primary societal concern and has been viewed to affect society in various adverse ways primarily. In the above-described film, for instance, Don Vito was forced to pay the harsh price of having to lose a son, and in the long run, he lost his life, which could be attributed to the pressures that he faced in his line of work.

This may provoke an ardent viewer to question the actual worth of the sacrifices that we make as members of the society in the attempt to become fully integrated members of the community. For a parent, the loss of a child is a price that is quite high to pay for the sake of communal integration. This is realized if even don Vito, a renowned veteran in the streets, was willing to put aside the difference between him and the Sollozzo gang to ensure that there is the restoration of peace between the warring sides.

The community may require the members of the given social setting to give back in some way to ensure that a given member attains full integration. However, sometimes, the community itself has failed its members through the failure to provide the best possible living conditions that are aimed at ensuring that there is a harmonious and sustainable living for all. As a result, most individuals may be in the total rebellion of the required sacrifices given that they fail to see the benefits which they may be gaining from this social setting.

It is, however, necessary to identify the fact that, out sacrifices, i.e., the input that we put in our community wellbeing endeavors, are the same output that we get. With this in mind, there is the increased necessity to cultivate a harmonic coexistence nature in the communities where we come from to ensure that we are in a position to benefit the best way possible from the sacrifices as well as other investments that we make in the communities where we come from.