The Godfather: Part II is directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola simultaneously tells the stories of Michael Corleone and his father Vito Corleone using a technique called the parallel action. This technique switches back and forth between two time periods and relates the lives of Michael and Vito. Coppola is able to use this technique well because he knows just the right time to cut a scene and enter another. By the end of the movie, the two story lines are complete and united.
The unity between Vito’s and Michael’s story lines is clear when Michael remembers gathering with his family for his father’s birthday. The scene starts with a wide lens shot of the dining room area from a point of view behind an empty chair, which the audience knows will soon be occupied by Vito Corleone.
Young Michael sits surrounded by his brothers, sister and family friends. The wide shot lens captures the room with its dark-decorated walls. The room is lit by a source of light that seems to come from above the bright, white-clothed table. Of the men gathered at the table, Michael is wearing the most “white.” He stands out because the other males in the room are wearing gray, brown or black.
Michael seems nonchalant as he remains quiet and smokes a cigarette. He only starts conversing when soldiers are referred to as “saps.” At that moment, a conversation is initiated between Michael and Sonny, and the director begins to use the shot-reverse-shot technique. When the shot focuses on Michael, it lingers a little longer, staying on Michael, even when Sonny starts to speak.
Michael is already seen as “different” because of how he carries himself but he further isolates himself by saying that he didn’t want a deferment from the army and that he has his own plans for the future. All the while, there is no music. Aside from the sounds of Sonny’s children in the background, the only sound is the dialogue between the characters and it forces the audience to hang on every word.
The director carefully places this scene at the end of the movie where it holds the most significance. This scene shapes the audience’s understanding of the narrative by touching the issues of power, violence, innocence and family — all which build upon the events that take place throughout the movie.
If this scene was placed earlier in the movie or edited to be shorter, it would not hold the same profound effect. At Michael’s lowest, when he has lost his wife and his brother, he remembers the moment shown in the scene. The moment when he was naive, when the family was the priority and when he thought he could make his own future, maybe even away from the family.
Michael’s hope for innocence is shown through Sonny’s children, who are dressed in white and say, “Daddy’s fighting again!” Michael, dressed in colors resembling white, seems to want something different than what his brothers and father want. He wants to step away from the violence of the family but ironically chooses to do so by joining the marines, as if violence is a cycle unpreventable to the Corleone family.
The audience clearly knows at this moment that his efforts prove fruitless and that he ends up entangling himself in a world of crime and violence passed down by his father. Even after marrying Kay, and wanting to be legit, it’s impossible for someone like him. The audience is also aware that Michael will lose what he has in this scene, family.
The scene constantly switches to shot-reverse-shot and then to a far shot enclosing the scene. Slowly, one by one, people around the table leave. The way Sonny treats Fredo and the other characters in this scene because of his “power” closely resembles the way Michael does in the future when he possesses the power. The audience sees Fredo picking up Sonny’s chair and being ushered off to make a drink. This explains Fredo’s actions and his plea to Michael shortly before he is killed. Everyone leaves to meet Vito and as they leave and walk away from the brightly lit table, they enter a dark hallway, together.
The scene ends with only Michael sitting at the table and the use of the wide lens emphasizes his loneliness. He seems to hold no loyalty to the family as Sonny describes. He gets someone to kill Fredo, his own brother. Michael’s wife is gone and he holds no close relationship to his children. He didn’t even know what his son got for Christmas. To the audience, there starts to become a clear distinction between the lives Vito and Michael have created.
Vito has built a life around family and loyalty. He values his children and despite his violent public figure, he is portrayed as a loyal and sweet father. He cherishes his children and his wife. On the other hand, Michael’s wife aborts their son and leaves him. For Michael, maintaining both power and family values seems like an impossibility. The only thing that ties these two men together is the unpreventable cycle of violence.
All of this becomes clear in the scene. When the wide lens lingers on a far shot of Michael sitting alone after everything has taken place, the audience says in their heads, “If only Michael knew then who he becomes…”
