“The Godfather Part II” is a sequel to the classic film “The Godfather”, that’s been held by critics and fans to be one of the few Hollywood sequels to be just as great as the first film (as well as winning the Oscar for "Best Picture", along with its predecessor). The first film is about a crime family called the Corleone’s run by the aging Don, Vito Corleone and his sons in the 1940s. After getting into a mob war with the other New York gangsters for refusing to endorse in the narcotics trade, that weakens the family business, and costs Vito’s oldest son Sonny his life, his youngest son Michael takes over the family business as his Father is too old and sick to run things anymore, and eventually dies in a garden as he’s playing with his grandson. The second film picks up a few years after the events of the first film, with Michael still in charge of the family in the late 1950s, who is now running his operation in Nevada, planing to join forces with an old powerful business associate named Hyman Roth. However, one evening at his home, Michael nearly gets assassinated, and believes that the man who orchestrated the hit was Hyman Roth, and that he had help from an insider. After meeting up with Roth at his home in Miami to make him believe that another associate of the family Frank Pentangeli was the one who gave the order, since he refused to take care of a duo of gangsters that Roth is backing up known as the Rosato Brothers for moving in on his territory, Michael decides to visit Pentangeli in New York to tell him his plan.
The scene when Michael talks to Frank is relevant to Kenneth Burke's method of Dramatism. Burke used a method of analyzing human relationships, that compares life to drama as well as the most direct route to human motives and human relations by using a five dramatic pentad to understand how a person explains their actions through the performance of the persuasion instead of the science of it. The scene when Michael persuades Frank to help him go along with his plan to get rid of Roth uses all 5 parts of the pentad. The first of the 5 parts of the pentad is Scene, which is the place where the action occurs. The scene takes place at Pentageli's home that Michael uses to his advantage by coming to his place unannounced to keep his plan a secret, and to get his attention. He achieves this successfully by having his bodyguard wait at the front of Frank's house to inform him that he has company, and having Frank's wife tell him that he's waiting in the den, rather than greeting him directly.
Michael is not just a friend and an Allie to this New York gangster, but he's also one of the biggest and most powerful Don's in the country, which leads to another part of the pentad called Agent, who are supposed to be the people involved in the conversation and what their roles are supposed to be. These two are both very intelligent and dangerous men who have connections to help make them do whatever criminal act they want. The third part to the pentad is Act, which explains what's happening, and what's going on between the two. Just as I've stated earlier, Michael has come to see Pentageli to get him to help take revenge against Roth for trying to have him killed at his "HOME"! The fourth part called Agency begins to take part in the scene, which shows how the agents act on this matter. Michael wants Frank to help him take his revenge by settling his troubles with the Rosato brothers. Frank questions why he wants him to "lay down to them" as being part of his revenge, which causes Michael to finally tells him that it was Hyman Roth who tried to have him killed.
This all leads to the 5th and final part of the pentad Purpose, that explains why the agents are acting and what they wish to achieve. We clearly know that Michael wants Roth dead, but why would he want Frank to have a truce with gangsters that he's backing up, instead of just wiping him and the Rosato's out while they "got the muscle"? After Michael walks around the house in disbelief that the house that he used to live in has changed so much over time as he reminiscences about the good old days, and finds himself happy that the house never went to strangers since Frank, and Frank's deceased boss and former Allie of the Corleone's Peter Clemenza took over the house when Michael moved his family to Nevada. Michael sits back down and tells Frank that he learned many things from his Father in the den where they're meeting in, and tells him one of the business strategies that he's learned which is "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" (one of the many famous quotes from the movie). He proceeds to tell Frank his plan, that if Frank ends the feud with the Rosato's, it will make Roth believe that Michael supported their truce, which will keep Roth completely relaxed and not suspicious about his plans to kill him, and to find out who the traitor in his family was that helped set-up the attempt on his life.
"The Godfather Part II"(just like the first film) has one great scene after another, and to connect a famous scene with a few iconic quotes to Burke's Dramatism makes the scene even more amusing then it already is. Michael uses Scene, knowing that it will grab's Frank's attention when he comes to his house as a surprise. He qualifies under Agent since he is a powerful man (as well as Frank). He uses Act to tell Frank what happened at his home, and that he needs his help. Agency is used when he tells Frank his plan to act on the matter. And he tells the Frank the reason why he wants him to make peace with the Rostato's by using the final part of the pentad, Purpose. And it all works towards Michael's advantage to get the help he needs (it's just a shame that he didn't count on the Rostato's double crossing Frank during their truce meeting).
No comments:
Post a Comment