The film “The Godfather” is rightfully considered one of the greatest movies of all time. It is one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book. If there is any movie that could be seen as the perfect adaptation, it would be “The Godfather.” It remains faithful to the book while cutting out the subplots irrelevant to the story. “The Godfather,” therefore, the source material and transforms it into a medium fit for the screen.
At UD, we are bound together by a love for truth as we study texts from various disciplines across the Core. We are united by a love of these texts, but we are not united by a love of film. In fact, “The Godfather” is a source of some division for people at UD because some men think that it is just a “guy’s movie.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. “The Godfather” is a movie that is for everyone, especially here at UD. I am not arguing against the idea that “The Godfather” is a “guy’s movie” because I find it sexist as a woman. Rather, I am making this argument from my experience as a woman who loves “The Godfather,” has watched it many times and has read the book.
When I got back from Rome, I felt an intense Rome sickness. I wanted nothing more than to return to Italy. As I couldn’t go back, I did the next best thing: I watched “The Godfather,” read the book and watched “The Godfather” again.
I came back to “The Godfather” time and time again because it is more than just a story about the mafia. It is the story of one family, the Corleones, whose familial bonds are explored in order to ask the question, “What does it mean to be loyal to your family, and is loyalty to your family worth the cost of losing your soul?”
When I watch “The Godfather,” I find myself wrestling with this question as I watch Michael Corleone lose his soul. He does not lose it overnight. Instead, he loses it after making a series of decisions to avenge the attempt on his father’s life. Over the course of the movie, Michael changes from a man who wants nothing to do with the family business to becoming deeply embedded in it.
This question of the human soul in “The Godfather” is prevalent as Michael stands with his infant godchild, speaking for him at his Baptism. At the same time that Michael says he renounces Satan, all his works and all his empty promises, there is a series of murders under Michael’s orders. The man standing before God as godfather to his infant nephew is the same man who is responsible for the deaths of countless others. There is no greater indicator that Michael gained the whole world and lost his soul.
“The Godfather” is a movie made for the UD community because the education of UD is meant to form a rightly ordered soul. The Core shows that although each discipline at UD studies the human soul in a different way, all are aimed at the good of the human being. For the UD student, watching “The Godfather” is an offer one cannot refuse.
There is violence in this movie, but the violence in this story is meant to show how evil a person can become. One cannot fight an evil, much less an evil in oneself, if one is not aware of it.
Above all else, leave the gun, take the cannoli, and watch this movie. Don’t refuse what “The Godfather” has to offer. Ladies, give it a chance; gentlemen, don’t be afraid to show it to the women in your life. Take my word, you won’t regret it.