Last week was truly a Al Pacino week starting with God father series ending with wicked Brian De Palma's Scarface. Al Pacino, De Niro, Godfather & Francis belonged to the era where Hollywood was shedding its skin. It was emergence of visionaries like George Lucas, Martin Scorsese & Francis ford coppola together, wherein Lucas was more known for its Blockbuster money-churner "Star Wars" series Martin & Coppola I regard were the real change agents of Hollywood. I don't know why I had avoided this series for such a long time well! anyways I have being always late in grasping but still I felt "better late than never". For many this masterpiece is an institution in itself but for me it was Al Pacino & Francis only. Yes! you cannot & never ignore Marlon Brando with his shady eyes and drooping cheeks maintaining the same poignant stance throughout his performance. He deserved an Oscar and he got it. But what makes Al Pacino special for me was challenging the Aura of Marlon and gaining the accolades in the process. The studio was skeptical about its appointment but Francis was confident about him and though throughout the movie studio was nervous about the casting it was Francis who had faith in the cast. First what makes the series best for me and why it makes a learning curvature for many of us? Is it Performance? Direction? Screenplay? Script? Music? Its all!! But for me it was the Michael's innocence destroyed & his dark side being revealed due to the circumstances. He abhorred the world of his father not directly but the decision to join the army was a step towards it. Vito created the empire when he saw that one of his own was sucking the blood in his own neighborhood. This prompts him to kill the scum where he takes the matter in his own hands. His emergence as Don had facet of Oppression, Poverty, Elite Vs the poor. He was societal and cared for the people which was prominent when a lady came for help when her landlord tried to remove him. He didn't approached the landlord with brashness but when he was not getting convinced he told him to ask about Vito Corleone in the neighborhood. Michael doesn't do different but he does with ruthlessness which are the after-effects of the deception by some of his own family members & friends. Circumstances leads him to kill his Brother-in-law, Brother, his bodyguard and the heads of the 5 families. Which Vito never confronted in his time. Michael tries hard to legitimize the family business but the more he tries the more he falls in the black pit of conspiracy, dishonesty and deception. In the process he loses the best thing he loved -his first wife. This was truly a epic master creation by Mario Puzo but was immortalized by Coppola. "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Grateful!!!!
