The Godfather (vs. Citizen Kane)

"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."

Title: The Godfather: Part I.
Year of Release: 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: Drama/Crime
Rating: 10/10

The Godfather follows the entire Corleone family, both as an actual family, and as the crime syndicate. Mainly following Don Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael. Michael is a hero who fought in World War II and has recently returned, and has been awarded a medal. He doesn't appear to want to be apart of the family business in any way. After an attempt on Vito's life, a war breaks out, and a lot of things change.

There is a lot of speculation that this quite possibly is the greatest film of all time, and it's easily very understandable why from only the first minute. To be honest, I think this is the great film of all time, though, it is not quite my favourite film. Another film that is generally considered the best is Citizen Kane, and here's is a practically irrelevant reason why I think nowadays, The Godfather is superior. Sure Citizen Kane was a film that did a lot for the way films are made today and without it, it's probable some of your favourite films would not be what they are. Sure, the acting is phenomenal and everything is perfect, almost. What I feel is that, nowadays, the fact Citizen Kane did what it did is more something that is respected but not acknowledged because it's just a known fact, and I'm tired of acknowledging it. It's around 60 years since Citizen Kane came out and it still a great film, no doubt about it, but, it just does not have the same, feeling it would have many years ago, the feeling that, everything is new, everything is original and everything is perfect. It's less relevant today, and though it has barely aged, the Godfather remains un-aged, it has not even aged the slightest. The Godfather has a very strong deep feeling and generally good morale. Sure, killing is bad, and it is not entirely shown as that bad. But, it brings across a strong sense of family importance. After viewing it again, I have finally realise how strong and important this was in the Godfather, of course I knew it was there, and I knew it was important in the film, just not that important. The Godfather is also a very realistic film, it doesn't create a great set of characters, but instead, a great set of people.

Also, I think the acting in The Godfather is superior than the acting in Citizen Kane. All the actors in this film portrayed a role they do not imitate or even sort of resemble in any of their other films, you may see resemblances between certain characters Pacino has played in his past, but you won't find anything like Michael Corleone, it's the same with Vito (Marlon Brand), Santino (James Caan) and Tom Hulger (Robert Duvall), they are original and have remained original, even it was made and released now instead of thirty-six years ago. When you see Citizen Kane, I'm sure your jaw will drop, but you will find resemblances, only slight ones, between Orson Welles character Charles Foster Kane in some of his other films, which may seem irrelevant, but it's important to me.

Sure, people will go on and discuss the technicalities of Citizen Kane which may or may not make Citizen Kane better, but that's half my point. With the Godfather, you don't need technical aspects to see this film is a true masterpiece, one you can easily see as the best. I'm not saying that technical aspects like lighting, directing, or any sort of method of presentation (or whatever), are unimportant and not present in The Godfather, they are there, and they can easily be discussed, but I don't think it is necessary, especially if you have seen both. I feel Citizen Kane nowadays relies on what it was, and what it did, whereas The Godfather still to this day shows you what it is still, and what still makes it great. Maybe I need to see Citizen Kane more, I've only seen it twice thus far, and I've see The Godfather plenty more times, but anyway, that's just me. I'll stop with the Citizen Kane vs Godfather thing now, but I feel I've covered a lot of what I loved about The Godfather.

As I said, Family is an important part of this film. The relationships are very well described and developed in this film. Vito Corleone definitely makes it heard that family is very important to him, and he loves his children, especially Michael who chose not to be apart of the family business. This is especially in his reaction to the news of Michael's actions following the attempted murder of his father. There is a very strong relationship between Michael and his father, also a strong a relationship with each of his brothers, his sister and Tom, his step-brother. Constantly through the film it reminds you about family and your "duty" to them.

If you haven't seen this film, don't expect anything like you've seen before, especially when it comes to the mafia, it is not like GoodFellas, it is something entirely different. It's full of real people, and real situations with real consequences, all the while remaining completely fictional. This is definitely a film everyone should see in their lifetime no matter who you are.