Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Godfather analysis

You really cannot go wrong with watching The Godfather. Copolla really knew what he was doing with everything. The mise-en-scene is particularly amazing for this film. One particular scene that I find amazing is the baptism scene. This is when Michael Corleone is attending his nephew's baptism, while he is also having hits put on each of the Family heads. In many ways this is an instance of historical mise-en-scene since the Priest is speaking in Latin while performing the baptism, which is similar and very different to the mainly Italian tone of the film. Where the hits take place also seem to be describing the mise-en-scene as a measure of character. Each of the hit victims are in places that they would consider comfortable and safe. Most notably Barzini was shot in front of what seemed to be a big business, and Tattaglia was gunned down with a prostitute both of which show the personal traits of the character (Barzini being professional, and Tattaglia being sleazy).

Another scene I wanted to talk about was Sonny's death. This scene does a good job of making sure the historical context is in play with everything (the tommy guns were what really made this interesting to me since when you think of mobsters, you think of tommy guns). The blocking for the scene could be described as also a mix between social and graphic blocking. When the hit men surround Sonny, you know that this is a sure-fire way to kill someone. At the same time you get the feeling of being "blocked" in (puns are hilarious). I also found it ironic because all Sonny had to do to get away was back up, which could also have described his character too (Sonny Corleone does NOT back down!).

1 comment:

Kevin M said...

I can't resist pointing out that Sonny couldn't back up because one car pulled up in front of him and another pulled up behind him, trapping him at the toll booth. That is all.