The Godfather Part II

The Godfather Part II; crime drama, USA, 1974; D: Francis Ford Coppola, S: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Lee Strasberg, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Michael V. Gazzo, G.D. Spradlin

Two parallel stories of the Corleone family: Sicily, 1901. Mobster Ciccio kills the whole family of the little boy Vito. He emigrates alone to save his life and arrives in New York, where he is mistakenly given the last name Corleone and grows up trying to get rid of poverty. As a grown man, Vito eliminates an Italian mobster who demands racket from the neighborhood and climbs up the hierarchy. Returning to Sicily under the pretext of planting olive oil, Vito kills the old Ciccio with a knife... In '58, Vito's son Michael Corleone is now in charge of the mobster business and has two goals: to start a hotel business in Havana and to start a casino business in Nevada, even though he needs a vote from a Senator to do so. Michael uses the assistance of mobster Hyman Roth. After he survives an assassination attempt, Michael discovers that Hyman wanted to eliminate him. Michael has him killed instead and divorces himself from his wife Kay, who wants that their children grow up without crime.

The first "Godfather" was declared a classic because it daringly gave a glimpse into organized crime and showed how that system ticked, for which it won numerous awards and praise. Almost as some sort of paradox, two years after it was made, director Francis Ford Coppola made a "miracle" with this sequel which won even more awards and became an even bigger success. While "The Godfather II" is excellent, it is, however, weaker than the 1st film, and rather confusing at times. Just like the 1st film, Coppola and Mario Puzo again follow the mobster business, and as a dialogue between Tom Hagen and Frank Pentangeli implies, evokes the archetypal scramble for power and dominance going on since the era of the Roman Empire. The opening act engages: Senator Geary grants a concession for hotels in Neveda to Michael, but at a very high cost, and adds how he despises the Corleones, upon which Michael replies: "We are both part of the same hypocrisy"—and then gives the answer: "My offer is this: Nothing!" Geary angrily leaves the room, but later on wakes up with a dead prostitute by his side, not knowing what happened, until Hagen conveniently shows up to cover up the scandal: he fell into the trap, and is now under Corleone's control through blackmail. That is mafia—they only achieve anything through violence and extortion. However, this is too similar to the dead horse head scene from the 1st film.

The film is fascinating because of two things. Firstly, by showing the system of organized crime and how Michael uses tricks and deceit to start a profitable casino and hotel business, it displays "the people behind the curtain", influential individuals who try to control the market, far from the public and the law. Secondly, by showing a parallel story of Michael's father Vito, who came to New York all by himself as a little child, it gives an unbelievable insight into how a "nobody" could manage to become "somebody", powerful and influential with time. But in doing those two different stories side by side, Coppola also shows a symmetry—while the 1st film showed the fall of Vito and the rise of Michael, part II shows the fall of Michael and the rise of a young Vito. Intriguing 200 minutes of running time, with a lot of contemplative messages (for instance, Vito's family was killed by a mobster. Motivated by revenge, the poor Vito became a rich mobster. By killing that mobster, he actually destroyed the catalyst for his own success), but with already seen style from the original which seems rather worn out and grey towards the end, whereas the story is rather cold and slightly uninteresting at moments, and is missing that "final touch" that would lift it into some genuine perfection as was the 1st film. Likewise, it is kind of a cheat to use such shortcuts in Vito's rise—how did the little kid manage in the US, in a country where he doesn't speak any English, and who helped him to grow up if he was an orphan? That is conveniently skipped. Equally of a stretch is that the notorious extortionist Fanucci would just walk around through the neighborhood where everyone loathes him, and yet he has no bodyguards. This is why Vito is able to ambush and kill him in the building, but in reality such a high-profile criminal would have bodyguard protection preventing assassins. Since the movie follows two stories, it could have used a match cut or some other idea of scene transition to play around more creatively with such concept, but alas, it is just presented in a straight-forward manner, though it is strong thanks to strong writing and themes. Al Pacino is again great in the leading role, who is full of sharp observations. One of them is when he targets his enemy Hyman: "If history taught us anything... it is that anyone can be killed."

Grade:+++