ENG225:FILM/FINAL PAPER

The Theme of Revenge in the Film “The Godfather”

The Theme of Revenge in the Film “The Godfather”

Introduction

Crime films are some of the most intriguing and famous genre ever since the beginning of sound technique in the Hollywood. Gangster films, “a sub genre of crime films” (Abhilashi, 2015, pg 6), covers the lifestyles of mafias especially on the ascendance and decline of their powers in organized crimes. Crime films majorly portray excessive use of money, flashy vehicles, guns, crime families, illegal goods as well as a plot coupled with the theme of violence. Gangster films are primarily steered by numerous themes including, the themes of power, rivalry, masculinity, morality, loyalty, materialisms and betrayal.

The Godfather film, an American crime movie directed in 1972 by Francis Ford Coppola, illuminates the dark side of gangster lifestyle. Betrayal, morality, revenge, violence as well as masculinity are some of the common themes that propel the Godfather film (Coppola, 1972). This paper focuses on the theme of revenge in the Godfather film.

The Theme of Revenge

In the film, Michael Corleone decides to revenge to the heinous attack on his father Vito Corleone. In the beginning, Michael, a United States military officer, is less interested in his family’s business. He wanted to leave an Americanized lifestyle. His relationship with a non Italian lady, Kay Adams, symbolizes his desire to be Americanized. Don Vito Corleone also wanted his son to enter into politics rather than associating with the mafia. However, according to (Abhilashi, 2015), Michael is forced to assume the throne of his father’s business empire when his father was almost killed by Sollozzo, a narcotics drug-lord. Michael eventually killed his father’s attacker, Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, a corrupt New York City Police Department personnel, believing that Sollozzo will attempt to shoot his father a second time (Abhilashi, 2015).

According to Don Corleone’s “an eye for an eye policy” (Abhilashi, 2015, pg 8), the revenge act amounted to justice. This act did not only induce Michael to the mafia kingdom, but also eclipsed his status from a United States military officer to a murderer or gangster. Abhilashi (2015) points out that this followed a number of several killings that Michael committed and got him executed. For example, he eliminated his brother’s killers and joined his family’s mafia business as his father’s heir after his brother Santino. To make the family mafia business stronger, Michael administers the killing of other five mafia families in New York on the day he acts as a godfather to his sister’s son. Michael’s exhibits his vengeance motives by setting a trap on Carlo Rizzi for plotting a trap that led to Santinos’s death. Abhilashi contends that Michael took up vengeance because of the love and affection he had for his family. This pushed him into the family mafia business.

Cinematography, Lighting, and Acting Style in the Godfather

Cinematography entails a number of elements ranging from cameras, lights as well as lenses. It entails design set up, costumes, make-up, acting and particular situations the sound design (Hollyn (2009). The Godfather film is credited with the introduction of a new cinematography technique. In his support (Thompson, 2010) observe that the Godfather film is full of magnificent shots as well as scenes, each unique as well as memorable on its own. From the silent confession of Bonasera to Don Corleone and Michael’s tense face before the killing of Sollozzo and McCluskey every part of the film is full of artistic aura.

The light, the darkness and the yellow look of the film illustrates the producer’s exemplary application of contrast, the ability to play with darkness as well as light. Many interiors in the film, such as Don Corleone’s office are full of darkness. Characters walk in and away from light and are occasionally concealed in darkness. Whereas the interior scenes were filled with darkness, the exterior ones were filled with saturated light and attractive warm colors (Coppola, 1972). Thompson (2010) points out that beside the beautiful piece of work; the producer applies cinematography to suggest the film’s themes. The most common examples are the scenes of Michael killing many of his adversaries, an indication of the death of his morality. This coincides with the revenge theme of the film.

Michael’s acting style is depicted as the interpreter. For example, in one scene Michael is seen to be so calm while listening to Fredo, his older brother, attempt in explaining himself as well as his actions. Even though he remains keen, it is evident that he hates his brother. The theme of revenge is depicted in Michael’s coldness toward other characters, including Fredo. According to Hollyn (2009) Michael’s coldness toward Fredo conveys his ruthlessness as well as seriousness on revenging against anyone who thinks of killing him.

The setting design of the restaurant, where Michael meets Sollozzo, (his family’s enemy) highlights Michael’s revenge mission. The whole setting, from the location to the coloring of the hotel is designed to: concentrate on Michael and his ascension of his position within his family business. Hollyn (2009) observes that the orange color appearing on Sollozzo’s right hand side and a neon light on the left hand side of Michael portrays that they are the main characters in the scene and the striking red color signifies change of mood and intention to commit murder. This precisely fits with the theme of revenge in the movie since Michael decided to join his father’s mafia business to eliminate the family opponents.

Personal Opinion on the Mise en Scene of the Godfather

The film opens slowly, with one male character speaking in a lowly lit scene (Coppola, 1972). I believe the low lighting indicates a mysterious as well as tense environment. With the light shown on the male character’s face, the films background is completely dark (Coppola, 1972), in what I believe is an illustration of the films intimidating as well as dramatic events. The slow zooming out at the beginning is an indication that something important is just to happen. In my opinion the dark coloring is an indication of the themes of violence, revenge and betrayal in the film. I believe that other techniques such as the leitmotif would have suitably applied in the film. This is because it helps in identifying a particular character that is not present in a particular scene but is being discussed because of his or her impact in the prevailing scene.

References

Abhilashi, B. S. (2015). Revenge, masculinity and glorification of violence in the Godfather. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 3 (2), 6-12

Coppola, F. F. (Director). (1972). The Godfather.[Motion Picture]. United States of America. Al Pacino Movies.

Hollyn, N. (2009). The lean forward moment: Production design. San Francisco, SF: Peachpit Publishers.

Thomson, D. (2010, October 20). The Godfather: Anatomy of a scene. The Guardian. Retrieved from. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/20/godfather-solozzo-scene-michael

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2011) Film: From Watching to Seeing Bridgepoint Education, Inc. San Diego, CA.