Godfather everything it's stacked up to be

If the figure of the Mafioso gangster has become an American cultural archetype or urban legend, then The Godfather represents a classic epic. Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 tragedy about the Corleone family is comparable to Shakespeare's King Lear. A hallmark of American cinema, The Godfather will be showing this Friday through OFS.

In a fast-paced television age, it comes as no surprise that this three hour, slow-paced, dialogue-laden film could be considered overrated. It may also seem, as are many gangster films, a male oriented movie. Yet these prejudices fail to recognize the almost mythic power of the narrative and the film's deep focus on the complexity of its characters' psychology.

The Godfather begins at the wedding reception of Don Vito Corleone's daughter, where the Don is introduced working in his dark office. The contrast of the bright, loving and feminine family life and the sordid and male-dominated business world runs throughout the narrative. Don Corleone's strong morals and awesome air of respect is given life by Marlon Brando, in his best performance since A Streetcar Named Desire. Even off-screen, Corleone's spirit and values lurk over every judgment made by his sons.

The narrative follows the transition of family control from the aging Don Corleone to his younger sons. The nature of the family's business is also changing, as drug trafficking enters the American crime scene. In the family hierarchy, wives and sisters - traditionally subservient to the power of the Godfather - threaten the Godfather's power by adopting more liberated values. The change from old to new, and the threats which arise during this change against the Mafia family's wealth, influences, operation and values, form the central motifs.

This struggle finds focus in Michael Corleone, played by an intense Al Pacino, as he grows to accept leadership and responsibility for the business interests of his family. At the start of the movie Michael is Don Corleone's "golden boy," a war hero with a college degree who wishes to keep out of the family business. Michael continually tells his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) that he is not to be judged on the basis of his family's background.

Michael, however, seemsthe only viable successor to his father's empire. The last half of the film follows Michael as he alienates himself from his wife and cold-bloodedly consolidates his power as head of the family.

From the movie's first line, "I believe in America," Coppola connects the Godfather's empire to the American dream. On the one hand, the Godfather has a happy family life, a profitable business, and the ability to help friends in times of need and distress. Yet with these personal successes come the dark deeds of his business: violence, murder, treachery, bribery, closed doors and vicious secrets.

Do successful ends justify shady means? Can we condemn men who stand behind their moral codes, who respect and love their wives and family, who work themselves to the limits of their energies, and yet who orchestrate violent, immoral acts and demand supplication to their decisions? The Godfather presents many such complicated questions and situations.

The film's three hours are packed with stories, complex characters, long stretches of tension, and short cathartic releases. Set just after the Second World War, the story seems both historically romantic, and yet not so distantly familiar.

On par with Orson Welles' masterpiece Citizen Kane, The Godfather deserves its American Film Institute ranking as the second best American film ever made. Powerful, engrossing, and beautiful, The Godfather is as close as American cinema comes to epic tragedy and dark, romantic poetry.