The Godfather: Opening Sequence

The opening scene of The Godfather stands among cinematography’s most excellent, effective and significant products. Beginning with a black, darkened screen, the 120 second retreating opening shot introduces the film with the words “I believe in America.” This statement is quickly associated with the first figure to be introduced by the film, Amerigo. From that point on, as Amerigo tells his immigrant’s tale of a trust betrayed, of a dream shattered by the brutal reality of a society that is condemned as morally corrupt, the camera conspires to slowly widen our field of sight. It may almost be said that the director is using the camera to open our eyes to the reality of the situation to which he is introducing us. Out of the darkness, the first element to be included in this greater field of view is a partial shot of a head resting on a hand. The hand then motions to someone outside the frame, on the right side of the screen. From that same side, a hand reaches into the frame to offer Amerigo a glass of water.
This series of actions, in conjunction with Amerigo’s story, as he stands and causes the Godfather and the room to become more defined, is not only the opening of The Godfather but also encapsulates the overall movement of the Godfather trilogy. This progression captures quite effectively Italian Americans’ position within American society. Italian Americans’ disillusionment at finding cultural and moral traditions that differ sharply from their own, the inadequacy of the system, and the need to seek out “one’s own” in order to achieve justice and recognition. Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo have both said that this work is about family and not the Mafia. Preoccupation with the family as a social unit in fact dominates the trilogy. How far one strays from the family, how one interacts within it, how the family restricts its members and how it drives them away. This film becomes a history of family relations in the context of US history by opposing it to an outside system, a competitor for the attentions and allegiances of individuals. The contrast is between two social and economic systems. One is based on the acquisition of power through barter, collaboraiton, exchange and production of immaterial goods and services (favours) while engaging in a capitalistic enterprise with those outside of it. The other system is purely capitalistic, where production is repaid with a wage and in which all other responsibilities are severed.
The struggle between individualism and collectivism becomes the struggle between an apparently oppressive family structure and a seemingly open society. The breakdown of the system that Don Corleone is struggling to prevent begins to take place as the film begins. As the opening sequence ends, Don Corleone tells Amerigo that he might one day be called upon to repay his generous act. As the camera shifts from Don Corleone to Amerigo we notice a smiling Sonny in the background. Of course, later, it will be Sonny’s disfigured body that Amerigo will be called upon to make presentable. And, it is not so much with Don Corleone’s shooting as, it is Sonny’s death that begins the downward spiral of the family.
Therefore, this sequence encapsulates the whole film and series. History, faith, trust, friendship, all the big-letter words make their appearance here and all are twisted or broken and shown to need mending. What is most important is that the mending be part and parcel of the family’s program, or at least be made to appear as such.

The film is a commentary on American/capitalist society. To succeed you have to sell out. Very few sho do not are allowed success “legitimately.” The mafia is in a way a reaction to this, a way of achieving success “illegitimately.” But, since the ultimate goal is to achieve success, the apparently conflictual relationship between legitimacy and illegitimacy is rendered neutral by the fact that such definitions are constructed within a system that seeks to uphold and maintain its own interests to the exclusion of others. One need only make a generalized survey of mafia type novels or films to notice that the eventual goal of the “mafiosi” is to lead what they have conditioned to think is a normal and legitimate life. In societies or systems where the path to legitimacy is obstructed by ethnic, racial, religious or political elements, the alternate way is often through the establishment of organized mutual aid societies that may or may not carry with them the assignation of “criminal.” The Mafia is, in the end, an alternative mode of accumulating capital to actualize a marginalized group’s investment potetials in the “legitimate” world. Whether we call it “money laundering” or investment, the final result is the same.