Introduction
The Godfather is a crime film of American origin. Its director was Francis Coppola. Coppola directed the film using Puzo’s novel, which was published, in 1969. The direction took place in 1972.the screen play was done by Puzo, Coppola, Robert Towne, Marlon Brando, Duvall Roberto, Al Pacino,Caan James, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conte, Diane Keaton, and John Marley. It spanned between 1945 and 1955. It is a popular and common film among all literature and movie lovers. Its popularity arose when it received the Academy Awards for Best Actors, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Pictures. The film has also been selected for the preservation of the United States in the National film registry. It was also ranked 3rd on the AFI’s top 100 movies over 100 years by the Institute of American Movies. It emerged the second best movie when the list was published again in 2007. It is extremely rare for a movie to feature in a ranking list especially in the United States where there are quite a number of excellent movie actors making competition in the movie industry exceeding stiff. Therefore, it is true that the movie achieved its success to the best level possible.
The origin or plot of the story dates back during the Conie’s (Talia Shire) wedding reception. Don Vito, Conie’s father and Carlo Rizzi, his new son in law are with a Mafia boss also known as Godfather. Godfather is conducted business in his office. He is with his adopted son and oldest son, Sonny. Tom Hagen, a family lawyer, is also with them. Many people visit Vito’s office to make requests (Messenger 86). One of them is an undertaker who is seeking revenge for a crime against his own daughter, Bonasera. Another person who has come to see him is a Frank Sinatra-like actor and singer. He wants Vito to assist him in landing him a part in the movie. The movie ends with suspense when Michael, one of the most active actors meets his capos. She kisses his hands and greets him, “Don Corleon” (Hollyn 43). The movie is classified under Independent film. This is because its production took place outside capital studio system. I chose this film due to the type of actors it has. Most of them are active and play their roles excellently well. The movie also has a lot of suspense and humor making it entertaining. The message or the movie thematic constituent is to reveal the criminal activities in the United States. The movie outlines vividly some of the hidden ways through which individuals carry out criminal activities and plans. It is a noir film since it Hollywood describing crime dramas.
Body
The Godfather has several themes that run across the three parts. One of them is criminal activities or Mafia. The first incidence of Mafia is seen when Michael, Vito’s father, participated in a Mafia killing. He murdered two men, Sollozzo and McCluskey, who wanted to kill his father in hospital (Messenger 87). He had invited the two men for a meeting whose mission was to reach at a solution of finding peace. Ironically the expected peace meeting turns out to be the death spot of the two unlucky men. The killing, according to the movie, is accompanied by repeated gunshots on the chests of the two men. The movie music, at this time lowers its rhythmical sound to that of a soft classical music. Lightings, as a result of the shooting, are also evident in this particular setting. This signifies a despondent scenario or occurrence in this movie. Michael after the killing flees to his father’s birth place in Sicily (Hollyn 17).
Another incident of Mafia killing is brought to light in is the killing of Sonny. Seeing Connie with a black eye, he knew Carlo had attacked and beaten him. He feels angry and attacks Carlo, Connie joins him and the two brutally beats Carlo up. As Sonny drove unaccompanied by his bodyguards, he stopped his car at a tollbooth. Suddenly, the car in front of him also stopped. Two men armed and dressed, such that their eyes are not identifiable, step out of the car (Larke-Walsh 43). They spray the poor Sonny with bullets leaving him dead. In this context, the use of cinematography has been maximized to the professional level. The cinema used to show the killings are high angled showing most of the details in the killing process. Other symbol is a cloud of smoke rising from the scene due to gun shots. This is a replica of the current American society, to some extent. People kill one another for no good reason.
Besides the above, the murder of Zasa is also classified under Mafia killings. Zasa was murdered together with his bodyguards. This was a vengeful act carried out by Vincent. Zasa before during a meeting had stepped out of the meeting and few minutes later there were bullets and gunshots everywhere in the conference hall. This informs us that some of the Mafia activities were performed with a retaliatory purpose.
Conclusion
Finally, according to the above three lucid illustrations, it is true that the movie is a noir film. Noir films are those that involved in the description of crime dramas. For instance, in the above three examples, there an outline of description of the death of the characters or actors in each case.
Works cited
Hollyn, Norman. The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the
Web. New York: New Riders. 2008. Print
Larke-Walsh, George. Screening the mafia: masculinity, ethnicity and mobsters from The
godfather to The Sopranos. Wisconsin, USA: McFarland Publishers. 2010. Print
Messenger, Messenger. The Godfather and American culture: how the Corleones became "Our
Gang.” New York, NY: SUNY Press. 2002. Print
