The classic gangster movie "The Godfather" has this opening:
After a short period of soothing music, the screen slowly lit up.
A man's sincere face, he emotionally tells his family's opportunities and misfortunes in the United States.
There are no violent hormones, no naked crime scenes, and the atmosphere is a little strangely peaceful.
In contrast to the expectations of the gangsters, it is surprising.
Some people may ask, this is a gangster movie?
Don't panic, look down.
The Godfather, directed in 1972 by Francis Coppola and adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Italian-American author Mario Puzo, is still rated 9.3 and 9.2 on Douban and IMDB 48 years later.
The classics of "The Godfather" are not like "Citizen Kane", leaving many inspirations for future generations of innovative techniques.
Instead, an optimal balance was found in art and commerce.
Rich in style film language, fascinating plot.
"The Godfather" is one of the few films that have gained popularity among fans, critics and film practitioners.
We see it in early classic crime films, such as Blood (1939), Bloody Battle (1949), The Hero of a Lifetime (1938), and even The Docks (1954), the hero of The Godfather, Marlon Brando.
The main story of these films is the struggle and struggle of individuals in gangs and crime.
"Blood of the Thief"
The cleverness or difference of "The Godfather" is that it tells the epic of a family in the name of a gang.
So, on the surface, it looks like a gangster movie.
But in fact, director Coppola is filming a family story dressed up as a gangster.
Through the contrasting character settings and scene contrasts, the film interprets an immortal family legend for us with an anti-gangster film routine.
Come on, and then go down.
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In the classic narrative structure of the film, the characters are the anchor of the story.
For The Godfather, Marlon Brando is a name that can't be bypassed.
In the film, he played the voice of the Corleone family, Vito Corleone, which is what we often call the "godfather".
In "The Godfather", the creators gave the Godfather a temperament that was different from the traditional gangsters.
His humanity and fatherhood, shrouded in the warmth of his family, became the source of the character's charm.
For example, the opening scene.
In the face of Bao Nasara's chatter about the injustices of the U.S. judicial system.
The godfather, Vito Corleone, reacted with a grunt of complaining that he blamed Bao Nassala for not taking him as a friend.
"I don't remember how long you haven't invited me to your house for coffee."
He even said a little sadly: "My wife is still your daughter's godmother, but you never want to be friends with me."
The godfather is a gangster boss, but in Jiang Wen's words, the opening scene is like a "complaining woman".
The whole time he gently stroked a lazy cat, complaining that the old neighbors did not want his friendship.
Here, the cat in the hand symbolizes warmth, and in the background of the godfather's identity, there is a sense of déjà vu of the tiger sniffing the roses.
This distinctive attraction comes from the contrast between the role of the gang boss and the gentle father.
Take a family portrait, people have not arrived, do not shoot.
In front of the eldest son, he also nagged and emphasized the importance of the family and the responsibility of men.
In the face of family crisis, he was heartbroken and his young son embarked on a path of helplessness.
The old man alone contributed almost 90% of the golden sentences of life in the whole film.
Throughout the Book, Vito Corleone is more of an elder and a parent than a gang boss.
It can be said that it is the old godfather who, in the contrast of character shaping, brings out the concept of family supremacy in the film and lays the tone of the family epic of "The Godfather".
It was he who dismantled the "stubbornness" of traditional gangster movies about "Mafia" (mafia) and completed the return of the character from symbol to person.
We can even see that the heir of the old godfather, the second generation of godfather Mike Corleone, still carries this trait.
Mike never wanted to take over his gangster career, but he loved his family deeply, and the fighting hero who returned from the battlefield of World War II was forced to become his successor in the family's change.
Despite Mike's cold and intimidating treatment of his enemies after he "ascended the throne", behind this is still the will to defend his family.
Having previously experienced the assassination of his father and his new wife, his ferocity to the outside world is more like the animal instinct to protect his clan.
So Mike's logic of behavior is not driven by Paibang's interests, but by defending his family, as his father has done for decades. In the Godfather trilogy, Mike spends his life hoping to take the family away from the vortex of gang fighting.
It can be seen that what is transferred between the two generations of godfathers in "The Godfather" is not the transfer of rights, but the inheritance of family responsibilities.
This is very different from the character setting in traditional gangster movies, and behind the character contrast is the arc of family warmth.
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In the film, the scene best expresses the author's narrative posture.
One of the most enjoyable scenes in "The Godfather" is its opening wedding feast.
Family celebrations, wine, singing, laughter.
Such a pleasant opening is very different from the crime and killing that most gangster crime movies have a distinct opening.
For example, in Brando's own earlier work "Dock Storm", the film starts less than 3 minutes, which is a murder, and as the protagonist, he is forced to participate in it, and becomes the fuse driven by the subsequent story of the film.
Therefore, looking at the family party at the beginning of "The Godfather", it undoubtedly highlights the difference between yourself and the traditional similar theme movies that focus more on personal ups and downs.
It completely presents the entire Corleone family to the audience, focusing on the father's kindness and filial piety, family joy, and lays the family gene of "The Godfather".
And the director Coppola also cleverly hid the dangerous factor behind this feast.
For example, pauli, the younger brother who later betrayed the Corleone family and directly led to the death of the eldest son of the old godfather, Sonny, he "complained" in this wedding, which laid the foreshadowing of the subsequent rebellion.
In addition, Thesio, who personally tore up the Godfather's family in the back, and basil, the gang leader, also appeared at the wedding banquet.
Family and enemy, this opening chapter is not only a common annotation of the legendary families in history, but also hints at the connection between the decline and rebirth of the Corleone family, and also echoes the ending of "The Godfather", a tail that can be called a great in film history.
In the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein made the famous "Odessa Ladder" in film history.
Using montage techniques, a brutal suppression of the people by the Tsar was truly and concisely presented on the screen.
Soldiers shooting, terrified women, strollers sliding, dying people.
Strong contrasts and contrasts bring out sharp contradictions, angry mood.
This passage of the film, under the delicate structure, highlights the epic style.
And the end of "The Godfather" is also a textbook example of montage,
Slightly different is that Coppola uses parallel montages, interspersing and narrating the contrasting plots of birth and death on multiple lines, and finally unifying them in a complete plot structure.
With strong contrasts, the harmony between art and commerce is pushed to the extreme.
We see Mike's goddaughter being baptized on one end, and a cold-blooded cleansing of the enemy on the other.
The baby is a metaphor for the new birth, and it also corresponds to the phoenix nirvana of the Godfather family here.
As a result, the picture constantly switches back and forth between sacred religious scenes and death, and in the strong contrast between life and death, family and enemies - both echoing the beginning of the film and showing the rebirth of the Corleone family in the blood bath.
This stunning stroke liberates "The Godfather" from the shackles of traditional gangster movies and gives it a wonderful family epic style.
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In the old godfather Vito Corleone's hometown of Sicily, Italy, the actual family system and norms of the local people are very close to the family system in traditional Chinese society.
With blood relatives and friendship as a bond.
Sicily
Sicily Catholic Church
It is also in this way that there is a sharp role contrast between the old godfather Vito. All his actions are based on family and friends, and the fatherhood of the family is far more important than the social nature of its gang status.
The old man strives to maintain his family identity and avoid the annihilation of traditions from his Sicilian homeland in the mainstream culture of American individualism.
It can be seen that the core of the legendary story of the Corleone family in "The Godfather" actually stems from the cultural projection of his Italian homeland.
That's why "The Godfather" emphasizes family so much, while american films of the genre tend to focus more on the individual.
Director Coppola did not deliberately promote violence, nor did he deliberately whitewash gang figures, by focusing on the ups and downs of the family's fate, under the religious metaphor, he brought out the history of American social evolution and cultural integration that spanned decades.
This kind of expression method, which is different from traditional gangster movies, not only sets off the concept of family supremacy in the film, but also brings us and the characters closer to their mental position.
As a result, unveiling the gangster coat of "The Godfather", which has become a family story that everyone can recognize, and it is easier for the audience to empathize.
Even the logic and process of Mike's "blackening" has become "deeply rooted in people's hearts" .
This made "The Godfather" an object of imitation by similar films in later generations.
In Du Qifeng's "Underworld" series and Liu Weiqiang's "Infernal Affairs 2", we can all see traces of "family warmth".
Therefore, whether it is the contrast of the characters in "The Godfather" or the strong contrast of the scenes, the root of Coppola's family philosophy originated from the Italian tradition.
It shattered all the traditional expectations of a gangster film and made The Godfather great and different.
Text/Porco Rosso Watch Movie Editorial Department: Brother Pig
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