I’m watching the Godfather trilogy on AMC, and in the first film, it kind of struck me that Michael was having fun when he trapped Carlo into confessing that he helped set up Sonny. That got me thinking: did Michael enjoy being the Godfather?
I brought this up at the lunch table, and the two responses I got were:
- He was happy when he was a civilian, so he must have been unhappy as the godfather.
- He was unhappy when he was a civilian, so he must have been happy as the godfather.
I give a lot of credit to Pacino for making such a nuanced performance. Personally, I’m leaning towards theory 2.
On the other hand, AMC just showed GF 2 today. In this movie, he was obviously distressed by the betrayals of Fredo and Kay. This gives credence to theory 1 as Michael must be aware of how his involvement in the mafia is hurting his family.
What’s your opinion?