Comments on: The Godfather and the Wages of Sin

By: 100 Movies I’d Rather Watch Than “The Godfather” » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:20:33 +0000

[...] provoke me if those doing the hyping didn’t use such unwarranted superlatives. Our own Matthew Cantirino calls The Godfather and its immediate sequel “the greatest ensemble of American films ever [...]

By: Christopher

Christopher — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:28:17 +0000

I would like to point out, although you show a disdain for the 3rd, that Michael’s confession, and subsequent death in massive depression shows the mercy of God, and the real factual aspect that sin, already forgiven, still bears consequences. If you do take part 3 into consideration, you get a man who starts out with virtue, throws it away, turns back to God and is saved, though through a fire….

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:50:14 +0000

I think that the Godfather films stood apart is due to their excellent production qualities AND complex plots.

By: Botolph

Botolph — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:41:26 +0000

Tragedy they are indeed. In fact, one does not get the whole picture until the third movie. If you remember, the Don swore on the lives of his grandchildren-it was precisely his grand daughter who was shot and lay dying in the arms of her father Michael (a counter-version of the Pieta).

The correlations with both Scripture and history are remarkable. The Don’s instructions to his son Michael is remarkably like the instructions of King David to his son Solomon. Of course, there is also the correlation of the Godfather trilogy with the real life, tragic and horrific lives of the real historical ‘familia’ “the Borgias” [Pope Alexander and 'clan']

Violence, the ring of power, sexual license at full tilt, wealth, lead where? The wages of sin is indeed death.

By: RayMidge

RayMidge — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:56:30 +0000

“The Sopranos” is similarly about the slow realization of the consequences of choosing sin, the futile attempt to rationalize it through modern Freudian thoery and, finally, the descent into the abyss. My reading of the famous, sudden cut to black is that the tale is told, the struggle is over, and the embrace of nihilism is complete.

By: andrew

andrew — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:32:00 +0000

i agree. another film along these same lines is p. t. anderson’s “magnolia.” sadly, i’d take watching these films over sitting through 90% of vacuous american homilies / sermons anyday….

By: Timothy Winterstein

Timothy Winterstein — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:39:07 +0000

I think, along with what you’ve said, that The Godfather (whether wittingly or not) is a meditation on the Law built into creation, in combination with the First Commandment. In other words, if you replace the God of heaven and earth with another god (in this case, the family–otherwise a good gift of the Creator), you, along with your idol, will be destroyed. The Family is everything, everything is subject to that idol, and the Law built into creation will have its vengeance. (I think, in fact, that Part III ties up this theme neatly.)