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Godfather: Part II, TheThe film follows Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as he attempts to consolidate his power and achieve respectability as the new head of the Corleone crime family. However, the strains of a government investigation and an assassination attempt on his life begin to fracture his world.
This sequel focuses on Michael's relationship with his nervous brother Fredo (John Cazale). Michael knows Fredo was involved in the assassination plot and Coppola adds depth to our understanding of this conflict (and its consequences) by telling Michael's story in tandem with that of the young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro). From Vito escaping Sicily as a boy to the humble origins of the Corleone family in America, these scenes show the traditions and codes of honour that Michael has gradually lost sight of as an adult.
"If anything in this life is certain, it's that we can kill anyone," he says at one point. He's talking about his enemy, Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), but really he's justifying in his own mind his plan to kill Fredo. Amid the sumptuous set-pieces and bombastic scenes that have rightly become a part of cinema history, it's a subtle moment, indicating the extent to which Michael has abandoned the values instilled in him by his father.
Never go against the family, was Marlon Brando's mantra in the original. But by killing Fredo, fighting with his wife (Diane Keaton) and freezing out half-brother Tom Hagan (Robert Duvall), Michael does just that. The final shot of Pacino, alone and reflective, is one of a man in purgatory. This is beautiful and haunting stuff.
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