Film Review: ‘The Godfather’ and the Faustian Pact

‘The Godfather – Trilogy’ is a necessary entry on every man’s favourite film list and I am no exception. The one debate which comes up every time you watch any of the films in company, is which is the best of the films. For most of my friends the first film is by far the best, with the enigmatic Godfather played by Marlon Brando leading an excellent cast. There is however, a fairly noisy minority which disagrees with this order, placing the second film with Al Pacino as the Godfather at the top of the list. What both groups agree, of course, is that the third film, is by far the worst; not just third place but third by a boat length and a half. I understand where they’re coming from, after all, the third film isn’t set in the 1940s and therefore none of the nostalgia associated with the first two films. The third film sees the downfall of the family, the loss of the iron will and firm conviction of the main character, Michael Corleone and ultimately his death. The third film is a very different beast to the first two but I think without it the whole trilogy is unfinished, the story incomplete.

For those who have missed one or more of the films let me give you a quick overview. A young boy who for his own safety is packed off from Italy to America, finds the Italian part of New York to be a tough place to grow up. The crime bosses run the neighbourhood supported by the patriarchal society, part of the culture which came over from Italy, where loyalty backed up by violence holds sway. Due to a calm and courageous temperament, Vito Corleone overcomes the local mafia leader and by default takes on the role. Using the principles of a 1920s gentlemen he runs his neighbour well and is respected but longs for his children to have a crime free life. However, his oldest son, loves to throw his words and fists around, his second son loves the high life too much, so his hopes falls on his youngest son Michael. Initially, Michael fulfils all of his father’s hopes, graduating from a leading Ivy league university, joining the Marines and becoming a war hero. He meets the love of his life and intends to marry her, telling her he will never be part of his families mafia business. However, when his father is shot and his family threatened a Faustian deal is done; he will take the reigns of the family business in order to keep them safe, attempting to legitimise this to himself and his new wife as the only way to guide the Corleone family into legitimacy. With the deal done, Michael becomes everyone’s worse nightmare, giving up everything in order to safeguard his family, killing all that threaten the family including in the end his own brother. For all this Michael becomes increasingly alone, losing his wife and children and left wondering who he can trust. So ends the second film.

But if we left it here we would be severely short-changed. What will happen to Michael, how will he work his way out of his predicament and what will happen to his family? These are the questions we are left with at the end of the second film and which the third film deals with fantastically well. It is in the third film, we find an ageing Michael desperate to finish his job of making his family legitimate. His family are just about talking to him, the business is all but legitimate and only the handing over over the criminal element to a strong family member remains. Michael seeks to make reparations to his family and to God as he throws his weight behind a godly bishop to become pope and rid the church of its ungodly element, whilst trying to explain to his estranged wife how he has ended up were he has. The tensions mount as, his enemies sensing weakness at the Corleone families core, seek to take power and settle scores. The ending of the film and the conclusion to the trilogy is extremely well done, if of course slightly inevitable. The trilogy, and in particular the third film, demonstrates that such Faustian deals, prosper no-one except the devil and leaving a strong moral message that the only way to protect those you love is to never give in or collude with evil; but instead to fight against it, even if it takes from you, your very life. Michael, ends up a deeply unhappy man, cut off from everyone he ever loved, sitting on a chair alone with only a small dog for company, with everything he ever worked for having crumbled into the dust. It is for this reason that I vote for the third film as the best, and most well written and as a fantastic conclusion to a brilliant trilogy.