In the last scene (although it fades from a flashback to the present day), we see the story come around a full circle. Throughout the entire movie there are random flashbacks of Vito, and how he built his mafia empire. It shows his humble beginnings and then his ruthless acts that earned him the respect that Michael now receives from everyone. The flashbacks don’t seem to relate to Michael as much until the very last scene. In this scene Francis Coppola does an excellent job at closing the movie with Michael realizing he has not fulfilled his dreams instead he has lived his father’s life.
In the opening of the scene we see Sonny, who is the oldest of the Corleone boys. This is the only time we see him so we can assume he has passed away already. He seems to be the one that’s in charge of the family even though Vito is still alive since the family is gathered to celebrate his birthday. There’s an introduction of all the brothers including Connie and Tom. Tom is part of the family as is called a step brother. The camera is placed towards the back of the dining room so that it can show the entire table and the living room in the back where there seem to be children playing but they aren’t heard. All that is heard is the clattering of kitchen utensils and the dialogue that Sonny leads. While the brothers play around with each other Michael is quiet and it is also important to note that he sits on the other side of the table alone. While all his siblings are next to each other with Sonny at the head, Coppola has Michael on his own. He is different from the others.
When Sonny talks about soldiers risking their lives for strangers as a foolish act, the camera finally shows a close up of him, it is the first close up of the scene. The camera goes back and forth from Sonny to Michael as he argues with Sonny. Michael calls it “pop talk.” It is clear that him and his father don’t have the same views. Kind of ironic because Michael ends up taking over his father’s role. That is when Michael tells Sonny he enlisted to be in the marines. He does this all while still smoking as if to show he is not scared to stand up to his older brother. He wants to fight for his country not his family. It is his way of escaping the family business. When Michael makes this statement the camera pans back out to its original view of the dinner table. It lets the viewer see the reactions of the other family members. After Sonny gets heated at Michael we automatically hear children’s voices in the background and this calms Sonny down, it grounds him. The two girls actually say, “Mommy, Daddy is fighting again.” It shows how important it was for the kids to not know that there was fighting in the family. They had to put up a front for the kids to prove that family means everything. After Connie is sent by Sonny to calm the children we see just the brothers in the room , and Fredo leans to shake Michael’s hand and congratulate him but their handshake gets ripped apart by Sonny. This part is also ironic because their broken handshake turns into a broken relationship in the future even though it seems as though Fredo had been the only supporting brother. Tom although he isn’t their blood brother also seems to have this role of the older brother, he is the one who talks to “Pops” about Michael’s future. He tries to look out for Michael in that way. The camera goes back and forth from Tom to Michael and shows their looks in one another’s eyes as they are conversing. It’s a look we have seen throughout the movie, it’s a look of loyalty towards one another even though words don’t necessarily express it.
After Vito comes home, the other boys leave but Michael stays behind once again remaining alone. The camera is back to its original position showing Michael thinking in an empty room with no one in the background, while the noise in the background is everyone singing to Vito for his birthday. Michael is unaffected by it all he doesn’t even want to go sing with his family. This scene fades back while an even earlier flashback of child Michael saying goodbye to Sicily from the moving train fades in. This transitions to Michael sitting by the lake. The transitioning makes it seem like these flashbacks are of Michael’s, that these are the moments he is thinking about. The moment where he decided to go against his family, and the moment where he says bye. It is sort of like he is saying bye to himself because he is no longer the same man. He not only turned into the type of man he didn’t want to become, but he also lost his family along the way. The camera slowly zooms into Michael’s face and he is covering the bottom half of his face. The lighting darkens the right half of his face and draws emphasis to Michael’s eyes which are circled with wrinkles. He is in deep thought about what his life turned out to really be. Coppola does a really nice job at showing how this life has aged him, stressed him, and not given him any happiness. The mafia life is not all the glory that it is made out to be.
In the Bible, there is a concept about multi-generational family curses. It is explained as the sins of the fathers being perpetuated in the lives of their children, or rather, the family curse being passed on from the predecessors to their successors. Once this family curse hits, the ones affected cannot thereby escape from it. The only true way one can escape this curse is to acknowledge your ancestors’ sins, repent of them as well as your own, forgive others, and ask forgiveness from God.