Classic--The Godfather

or: The Godfather of great movies.

One word to sum it up: Amazing.

I'll admit, this is my first time watching The Godfather. Yes, I feel bad that I have waited until now to watch it. But in my defense, it's an R16 here, so I'm technically not allowed to watch it until my birthday next year, and also, I had watched about 20 minutes of it when I was 11/12 before I was sent off to bed. Coming in as a first time viewer in the age we are currently living in, I still thought The Godfather was every inch as great as everyone says. If anyone was wondering what a timeless classic was, I would definitely point them in the direction of The Godfather.

The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the head of a New York Mafia 'family', oversees his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael (Al Pacino) has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Through Michael's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community and 'family'. An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family.

While I was skeptical about it's 175 minute running time (I put off watching the DVD for a while because I simply did not have the time to watch it all), The Godfather uses that time to it's absolute advantage. I have never seen anything quite so captivating as it was. To be perfectly honest, it didn't hold my attention in a tight grip, but I was so engrossed that I couldn't look away. After watching the movie, I simply couldn't get it out of my head, as it haunted me in some strange way. I'm probably just reiterating what critics have said about the film over the years, but there aren't many different ways of explaining how amazing The Godfather is.

Here's my contribution: The Godfather is made by the most wonderful performances from it's brilliant ensemble cast. They all come together with such valuable chemistry that makes you believe in their organized crime family they have going on. Marlon Brando is, quite frankly, so scary as Don, with his husky voice and the authority which oozes out of him. Al Pacino, however, is even more amazing as Michael. I guess it's his naivety which turns into darkness that does it for me. All I have to say is this: thank you, Francis Ford Coppola, for making a bloody interesting gangster epic which has some of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. I can't wait to watch it again, and also make my way through the series.


THE VERDICT: Do I need a verdict? You know it's amazing.

10/10