Character Transformation - Part II

Part II:

In the second Part of The Godfather there are flashbacks to Don Vito’s younger life from Michael’s present time. This reveals the background from where the Corleone family are coming from so that we could understand their traditions, actions and what drives them.

The first scene is only seconds short but powerful.

The next scene is Vito’s father funeral and we get to know the story so far during the procession. His brother also gets killed so his mother goes to Don Ciccio to spare her younger son after killing both her husband and eldest son, but he refuses, knowing that when Vito becomes a man he would want to avenge their murder. With the help of friends he is sent to America.

Back to Michael’s time and they are celebrating his son’s First Holy Communion. Their roles are all the same as to how they ended at the end of the previous movie but when an attempt on Michael’s life in his own bedroom fails we feel that another change in Michael is about to happen. The trigger for Michael is his family. Whenever someone threatens his family they get killed and a transformation in Michael happens. So he plans to leave his home for business and temporally leaves Tom Hagen in charge of the Family business. 

The most prominent character transformation is that of Don Vito. We know how he ends up but we are going to see how he got there, and from how we see him now we want to know what triggered him for such a transformation. Growing up in America, Vito was like any other Italian immigrant who was trying to make a living for himself and his family. But when he loses his job to a Don’s nephew he does not like it but accepts it because that’s the way it always was. But from his emotion we get the impression that he is about to change these traditions. And he won’t accept charity! 

Back at Michael, and he is in Cuba meeting with other Dons for an agreement but he is having second thoughts about it because he knows that Castro’s rebels will win. He also knows that someone wants to kill him and suspects that his brother Alfredo is involved when he, unknowingly, gives himself away during a visit to a Club. We know how Michael acts and are curious now to see how he would act towards his own brother. During the New Year’s Eve celebrations when Castro’s revolution topples the Junta in Havana, he gives his brother a fierce kiss on the mouth; to show that Alfredo is a dead man to him – “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.”

Back to Vito, we sense that he is gaining leadership over his two friends by his way of reasoning. He knows how he should handle “business”. 

Later we find out that his way of doing business was to get rid of the problem by eliminating Don Fanucci; his first killing. In doing this, he gains the respect of all of Little Italy in New York and is the start of his empire.

Back to Michael, he returns from Cuba but we sense a change in him and even in Kay. She didn’t acknowledge his return home so he goes to see his mother and we get to know what’s bothering him. He fears that he is going to lose his family. “He was being strong… strong for his family. But by being strong for his family… could he… lose it?” “Times are changing.” Nothing is as it used to be and values were changing too.

Vito’s life has transformed from what it used to be. He has grown both in fame and status. His clothes are richer as is his house and people show him respect and going to him when they have a problem to ask for a favour. He helps them out and comes out at a profit.

 

As for Michael there is another transformation in the relationship between him and Kay. She wants to leave him and take the children with her but that he will never allow it –  “Don’t you know me? Don’t you know that that’s an impossibility?” In their argument Kay reveals that it wasn’t a miscarriage that killed the baby but an abortion because “I didn’t want your son, Michael! I wouldn’t bring another one of your sons into this world! It was an abortion, Michael. It was a son and I had it killed because this must all end! I know now that it’s over. I knew it then.” Because she knew that he would never forgive her. She wanted out and found the only way which he couldn’t change with his powers. Getting to know this transformed all the love he had for Kay to loathing her where he slaps her out of anger.

Vito goes back to Sicily to invest in an oil company for Genco. While there he finally gets his long awaited revenge on Don Ciccio and slits him open.

Michael’s mother dies and Alfredo wants to see Michael to ask for forgiveness. Here we see another character transformation, that of Connie. Although she is not seen a lot throughout these two movies we will get to see that later on she is an important figure and we get to notice that change from this point. After that she had found out that Michael had killed her husband she had rebelled against him by choosing an American boyfriend over the family. Now that their mother is dead she returns to the family and plans to stay for good. She is stronger now and wants to help Michael with his problems with Alfredo.

Michael goes out to meet Alfredo but his hug is also the order to have him killed. He had promised not to harm Alfredo while their mother was still alive but now the situation has changed. One of the major qualities he inherited from his father “I won’t forget”.

The movie ends with memories from Michael’s and his father’s past.