The scene that I would like to draw attention to occurs in the latter half of the movie when Frank Pentangelli is being released from prison and Tom Hagen visits him to talk. The two men smoke cigars while discussing Frank’s future.
The scene begins with a medium shot, partially obstructed by a blurry pole and fence. We see the two characters in profile with the camera never focusing on either of their faces. It should be noted that while this is an intimate conversation, there is no shot and reverse shot technique being used. The camera never switches angles, or point of view. The entire scene is filmed from one camera. When the characters move along the fence, the camera maintains a tracking shot, never letting the two men out of its focus. The tracking shot starts when Tom Hagen starts leading Frank Pentangelli along the fence, similar to how Tom is leading Frank to the conclusion that he should commit suicide for the good of his family.
Additionally, the camera placement is interesting. The camera is located outside of the compound, looking in. Because the camera is focused on the characters on the other side of the fence, the links in the fence make the focus blurry. This adds to the ominous mood of the scene. That, combined with the cigar smoke, the chirping of the birds, low tone of the voices, the fact that we never see either character’s face directly, and the very subtle violin music that begins halfway through the scene unsettle the viewer and prepare him or her for the next scene. While it is never out rightly stated that Frank would kill himself to protect his family, the viewer understands that it is the only option he has.
The scene can be viewed by clicking here (it begins about 20 seconds into the video).
