The Godfather Part 2: How Michael Corleone Looks at People 

Great video, keep it up 👍

@@pessimistprime4877 The narrator is me. This is my voice.

I absolutely enjoy this content. In fact, there's one key term/interesting factor regarding the character of Michael Corleone, is *"Intimidation".*

Well done!

​@@JustanObservation that's ominous

Kay was a soulless abomination.

@@johnstrawb3521 she wasn't. She married Michael hoping she could change him back to a good man living a normal life but failed. That was the blindness on her part, she was blinded by love. After seeing Michael's transformation, she was sure it was inevitable that her children would have tragic lives too.

@@johnstrawb3521 She killed her own son out of revenge...that's says a lot about her.

@@sds187 To use the Greek’s words, the savageness of man can only be gently tamed not outright change. And that’s the mistake many partners make thinking they can change the other.

@@rodsoncelestin absolutely right. On the other hand, we tame ourselves as a gift to our partners. I know so many people who think they can be in a relationship and still have everything exactly the way it was when they were single. Little by little, they start to look like good ol' Michael Corleone, furious with everyone for not meeting them where they are, and only taking the time to look inward when it's too late and they're all alone. I've been thinking a lot about stories, how they always come down to a single choice. Stories, even the most gentle kind, are always some manner of descent into darkness. But in that darkness, there's some life-changing treasure. The Greek symbol is the healing ambrosia, right? Christian myth has the holy grail, which does the same thing, and can only be found after a long, dark quest. The quest of every story starts with a need to regain control of a life out of balance. But I find that at the center is a need to let go of total control, to make room for other people on their own journey, to choose compassion over total mastery of the world. Michael is right to feel betrayed by his brother. The lesson he had taught himself is that nothing is more important than loyalty and trust. He couldn't let go of his absolute control enough to see that, in taking the risk of forgiving Fredo, he would have started on a road to real loyalty, based on love and compassion rather than fear. He chose absolute control of everyone around him, meaning everyone was bound to him by fear rather than love. And he ended up loveless, and forever afraid. Had he chosen to truly forgive Fredo, he could have broken the cycle of fear and violence, and begun to rebuild his family. Michael went into darkness, but refused the ambrosia. Fear won out over compassion, and so his life became a tragedy.

He got one for scented woman. That's how those shitty awards work. They won't give you one when you're doing your absolute best, but only years later at an equal performance despite many others doing better that year. Happened to Denzel for Malcolm X. But I don't think there were as many equal performers when he won for Training Day. Or as in Game of Thrones winning awards Season 5-8, they did not deserve any for those seasons. Season 6 is the best in that bunch and it was still dumb AF, but had many memorable moments.

Nobody. I mean none, remember who won Oscar for Best Actor that year. But this role is legendary.

@@HaiLeQuang yup. That same year, Jack Nicholson was up for it for Chinatown, thats all I know about that year.

@@HaiLeQuang The awards ceremonies are all just a political circle-jerk of elitists and narcissists patting each other on the backs, and a little bit of favoritism mixed in. Al Pacino was still a young actor in the Godfather films and would not get the recognition he deserved until years later.

@@alpacapines8553 Or how Scorsese was nominated for everything under the sun for The Irishman and didn’t take home a single award. Nobody will ever convince me that that wasn’t because of dirty politics in the film industry. At the very least, Pesci should have won an award for his performance. On the other hand, art, whether it’s films or music or paintings or whatever...is not supposed to be about monetary gain and awards in the first place. So, the real artist...simply doesn’t give a shit. They know it’s a fake bunch of propaganda anyway. Neil Young comes to mind.

Yeah, totally agree. The eyes and then the camera angle, first the emotion then the angle serve to make him look animalistic, demonic. The real shadow emerges without any mask. Chilling! And this is the guy we’ve been accidentally on the side of, the antihero, and we suddenly see the hidden evil in ourselves, how it hides. Frightening

It's very Don Draper esque in that he reminds of our fathers and other highly respected authority figures we wouldn't dare want to antagonize.

What makes it even better is seeing the slow build up of the rage on his face and his lips quivering and teeth clenching before he releases it. Truly was frightening.

I was frozen watching that scene. Just waiting to see what Michael would do. Pacino took his role serious 🔥

the same exact look when he finds manny and gina

That's actually very true. Unlike Sonny, who flared in anger and then would calm down, Michael fumed over every slight. His silent rage was much more frightening. It's also why he had a Hamlet-like tendency to seek confirmation about what he already knew. He had to hear it from Carlo and Fredo. I don't think his father would have bothered. His way of reading people was more natural and he didn't doubt his instincts has much.

Thank you glad someone gets it. I’m a similar personality and I sympathised with Michael the entire series. I don’t think he was evil I think he was ultra risk averse following constant betrayal or loss to anyone that he cared about and loved.

It did, but not because Michael was loving. Michael took betrayal very personally. He felt deeply, but it was all hate. At least, until the third movie when he thawed...

I really don't think he was trying to manipulate Tom. When you hear him say that he was left out of the business for a reason, you have to remember that Vito told Tom that Tom was out for a reason and that reason would come in time

@@danielolortegui8422 I think it's a bit of both. He clearly does think of Tom as a brother as shown in the first movie, but it would make sense for him to use it now as both a showing of trust but also a bit of manipulation to secure Tom on his side

And in a way, it is somehow showing the positions of the family. Don Vitolooked at them as if a disappointed father, Michael as if he was death himself.

I think Michael possessed a fear of death that his father did not. Don Vito value his principles, morals, and virtues above his own life. Michael valued his own life, and his purpose above all else. I personally identify more with Michael, even though I admire Vito more and wish I was more like him. I think in a different time, Michael would have been more like his father.

Maybe it's a nature/personality thing, maybe it's just the mellowing out that comes with age....I haven't seen the movie/s but I did read the book and it was brilliant...but they were 2 different men from 2 different times...and the dad had a loving wife who was just as hardcore as him standing by his side, it was a shame Michael's first love died, that would have changed his nature more than anything

I think he thought those people knew him better and was hurt that they didn’t.

@@twiceshy9773 Except, in the book, Kay didn't kill their child and didn't leave him. She stuck by him and became a Catholic so that she could pray for his soul.

He said that it took him a long time to recover from playing this role; it must've been as draining as hell.

@@toomuchinformation the exhaustion wasn't pretended, neither was any other emotion.. i can't even imagine the burnout he must have experienced. Bravo e grazie mille, Al!

No

I agree with you. Al Pacino acting too realistic. In front of the camera, Al becomes Michael.

@My names Jeff Sherlock holmes

He gave the best performance in the trilogy

@@VC-ps2vm Maybe John Cazale as well. Honestly I was wishing for a reunion between the two brothers and wanted to see them ruling the under world together.

@@mayukhsen8195 I think pacino was better than brando

@@VC-ps2vm Much better bro. Like saying just "better" is an understatement.

@@mayukhsen8195 thoughts on de Niro in godfather

Al’s just legendary

Whats that name? DUNKACHINO

@@alexbaker9578 Al Pacino: “Burn all the copies.”

“I never wanted this for you”

"look how they massacred my boy"

"I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since 10am"

Yeah, but the Family business comes first.

I think on some level he expected it, which is why he was so worried to begin with.

Luca was already dead by this time. The Turc had him killed during the attempt on Michael's father. (1st movie /Story)

@@languageleapers9582 Al was Michael's version of Luca Brasi. I didn't mean Luca Brasi literally....

@@flintironstag2381 I already knew what you saying. Lol some people slow

@@languageleapers9582 In part 1, Vito himself said "Looks like you found your own Luca Brasi" or something along those lines after the meeting with Tessio and Clemenza.

Whoo boy. That scene is cold as ice. Al Neri was so horrified by Michael's reptitlian stare and coldbloodedness he couldn't look him in the eye

@@pasajerodelabrujula8261 Pacino did not win for Serpico. He was nominated 5 straight years in the 70s but didn't win an Oscar until 1993 for Scent of a Woman.

his role have very little to do with sociopathy. sociopathy is a personality disorder

If Michael was a sociopath it would have come up long before now, especially since he has known about his families dealings for most of his life. Michael starts as a normal truly good person, then makes choices that begin to change that. Michael basically just becomes an evil dickhead. He isn't a sociopath, he's just evil. Him having been trained for war and having seen combat he is able to seperate himself from his actions. He sees his actions as jobs, buisness, just like soilders do. If they didn't they wouldn't be able to do their job. It isn't sociopathy it's more like temporary dissociation. Distancing ones self form their actions to protect the psyche.

@@jwomackandcheese73 he’s a sociopath. You can be a sociopath and still be a good person. Emotional detachment and lack of empathy can come about from many things. Being cold and emotionless is a defense mechanism from a life of abused or neglected emotions. Michaels family was a family he so desperately wanted to free himself from. Kay was his escape. He tried so hard to pull away yet his family kept making the wrong decisions. He believes in the power of love and family but knows emotions will get you killed. He’s a sociopath. A sociopath is not a PSYCHOpath btw. A good example of this is the British tv series Sherlock. Sherlock has anti-social personality disorder, which is sociopathy. Yet he’s not evil. Michael becomes evil because those he loved constantly betrayed him. I relate to the way Michael feels a lot. I can’t go into that but I promise you he’s a sociopath (which isn’t a bad thing)

@@TonyTars pretty much like Leo DiCaprio

Might be his best delivery

And yet he killed his brother. The irony

@@jonathanaditya6211 I guess in his mind, it's better him than someone else

@@jonathanaditya6211 Fredo didn’t betray him in the first movie which is when he said that

@@jonathanaditya6211 It wasn't so much that Fredo himself was "straightened" out. It was the fact that Mo Greene had to straighten out a son of Vito Corleone and thereby damage the image of the family. It reminded him of what happened to Sonny.

he lost his soul when Appolonia died, it's crazy how different his eyes looked before and after

@@MikeG82 Nah, he still had it. He just lost the ability to take things personal

@@MikeG82 That's the first and most major change, but I believe a lot of things made him change. Running the family for a long period of time made him change and become more cold. He always had to try to be in control of everyone and everything business wise, and extreme power become very very important to him, but having that attitude alienated him from his family and affected his mood in a very negative way personally. He did not have that same view when he originally started running the family..

He said he would purposely zone out to actually seem blind because there’s no focus on anything or anyone that way.

It’s a proverb that I over time to see as very accurate.

Wtf you talking bout

Try to think? How do you stop? Lol...sounds like your pa was popping in and out of consciousness and having black outs. Hope it ain't genetic.

Mouth breathing potential high.

That’s one law of power my guy “Think as you like, but behave like others” you gotta blend in with the masses, but have your own motives/moves calculated, don’t make yourself seem too special/unique/smarter than the rest

Great Take!

Very interesting observation

You, sir, have the observant eye of Michael Corleone

Your 100% right! Jeez the lengths they went to create this masterpiece of cinematography

Good take.

ehhh, not really.

@@plasticweapon it was literally in the novel, word for word

"Michael would smile coldly and leave the room and not be seen for three weeks." This is why I think that Michael has more in common with a covert schizoid like myself than with a sociopath as many describe. He is not without emotion, without empathy. What we witness over time is his complete estrangement from emotion and empathy. Like a schizoid, his primary preoccupation is with safety. Even a loved one who demonstrates that they are "unsafe" -- Fredo's scheming, Kay's abortion, Tom's not mentioning the job offer -- it's as if they become every bit as dangerous as an avowed enemy, and Michael can't tolerate vulnerability. If those around him were to ask what he felt, he wouldn't be able to give a genuine answer.

@@leviathanmghaving recently been diagnosed as a schizoid, I've actually begun to believe Michael cold be one as well. I've always related to Michael's personality (pre Sollozo) for those very reasons.

I think even Al assumed that Michael would figure out a plan where Fredo didn't have to be killed; Michael was always the one who figured things out. But when the realization hit that what Fredo had done was so big that even Michael felt that killing Fredo was the only option, That combination of loyalty mixed with more than a little fear took over and Al knew what needed to be done.

Penetrating gaze, indeed. Al Pacino's eyes are very expressive. It's amazing.

@@BundsBun Totally. He says so much without a word; soulful, penetrating eyes. I think that’s what makes his Michael Corleone character so incredibly compelling.

@@VandalSauvage He was cheated out of an Oscar

@@anabella4296 He was absolutely robbed. I honestly believe his Oscar for Scent of a Woman was to make up for getting snubbed for The Godfather, pt. II

Yeah he is really scary.

I agree it was manipulation. But why would Tom break down? Being happy?

@@CameronsCars Cause at the back of his mind, Tom always had doubts he was actually family.

I never saw it as manipulation, it seemed like flattery, but somewhat legitimate. I suppose I could have been wrong though, as this video is quite compelling.

@@ajttambo You're right. In the books Michael was proud to have Tom as a brother. Michael never used that as manipulation. It was genuine.

@@TK0S3 But then, he killed Fredo.

Tony Montana

@@_Greg_4289nope

Also the about-to-explode look when he finds out about what Kay did. Pacino gave me second hand fear with that lmao

@@robertreyes8792 When I first saw his look at Kay, I legitimately thought he was going to kill her right there.

@@joes7378 never felt more concerned for a fictional character than at that moment

@@joes7378 I thought so too

same here

Ikr

Some...times...with...long...pauses...for...no...reason...

@@sakhile_nkomo hh

My compliments.

That's a Irish accent

Really

Crime movies are often tragedies, they're not mutually exclusive

Every film after the Godfather saw Pacino get all shouty? Come on, man. That's simply not true. I can roll off a list of films that saw Pacino give subdued, understated performances. And a character losing his temper and shouting does not automatically mean overacting. Michael lost his temper in both Godfather films and no one accused Pacino of overacting. This notion that Pacino does nothing but yell in his rolls is such an overstated misconception. It just annoys me.

@@brandonb.5304 It seems to be something you are passionate about. I may have been a tad hyperbolic but Pacino is an Oscar winning multimillionaire, I don't think he needs to be the worried. Besides calling his acting shouty is not new or original.

I figured there was a reason as to why he was all slouched on a chair like that,, love the details

@@brandonb.5304 Like what? I missed those performances.

@@rosevanderreijden3216 Donnie Brasco, The Insider, The Merchant of Venice, Oceans 13, You Don't Know Jack, Stand Up Guys, Phil Spector, Manglehorn, Danny Collins, Insomnia, Pirates of Somalia, Paterno, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Me too! He is the greatest for me and coincidentally I am too 28 mate

I know!

Yeah that's weird.

@@Chris-zd7gwexactly he ain’t your dad 😂

AWWW

Early in the first movie, he was far less likely to look people in the eye. He changes to the stare as he becomes the Don.

He knew there was a boundary he was about to step over and that his life would never be the same. The inner conflict had to be crazy!!!! Especially knowing who he was to the government at the time. A war hero

I agree.... and then she betrayed him by killing their baby

But she didn't want her child to become like Michael. So she aborted her baby.

@@igauthams Does that make it any better that she killed their baby?

@@Dragon_Lair She wanted a change in Michael's character. That's why she told the truth. Michael only compelled her to marry him. She never expected him to become a don like his father.

@@igauthams No, she also wanted to punish him, which is why she told him the way that she did.

someone took that away from him, now he took everything away from everybody, fair trade if you'd ask me.

@@charon7320 Yes. I agree with you.

@@charon7320 Especially because Apollonia was pregnant with twins.

Cool thanks!

that's when the innocent, uniformed Marine died in him. he became soulless.

You probably found it too radical because you didn't understand that ordinary people's including you and I, are not precluded from turning into absolute evil

Can you steal more with a briefcase than a hundred men with guns?

Cillian murphy

No brooo😂😂😂😂

I was thinking along the same lines; that what the narrator describes as "Michael" is more Pacino than the fictional "Michael". In any case the cold stare I interpret not as intimation or manipulation but merely intense scrutiny.

Coppola is a casting genius!! Nobody & I mean NOBODY wanted Pacino from the studio. Coppola reran screen tests until they reluctantly relented

@@Sapientia-in-senectute He's an amazing Tom Shelby but as Michael Corleone?? No. Especially since he's not exactly Sicilian or Italian

"....there was nothing left of the Michael we knew." I think that's why Godfather III was a disappointment. It didn't work because it tried to show Michael's attempts to redeem himself. Because there was nothing left of the good man that once was, he couldn't. It was merely sad and futile, never tragic.

@@graceskerp I could still see Michael making the attempt to go legit because he's not someone that accepts failure and he'd try to see that goal to the end. It's the joke cracking, romantic day planning guy he's become that seems disjointed from who he was at the end of Part II.

@@carlrood4457 yes I thought 3 made sense also because as Men age they become calmer and softer

11:42 for reference

@@shizutanako5553 I noticed that Al's eyes kind of sunk.

@@psilvakimo Yeah, Al seemed way more remorseful than Michael.

@@carlrood4457 when you give the order to whack your own brother, there was a little bit of fear there too

if only Al refused to kill fredo.. that whould be much better end of a movie imho

I first saw Al Pachino in Transformers and You don't mess with Zohan. I thought to myself: Man this guy sucks!

thomas shelby has to be my second fave character all time, first being a tie between Michael or Tony Montana

OMG...I just watched Peaky Blinders season 1 and you're absolutely right. I didn't even realize that

No

To me he lack of sympathy, i think vito would have not allowed micheal to kill fredo despite what have happened instead give fredo a lesson. Because at that point how can he be loyal to a family when he have no family anymore. He could be a great war general but not a family leader.

@@ilmanaizad6204 i think alot of people forget how vito rose to prominence in the first place as a young man. You see him in godfather 1 and you think what a nice jovial man he is . The only difference is time vito had gotten older so he needed strong men to protect him like a dangerous luca brasi tessio clemenza. What im saying is vito was no saint and he would have killed his brother for the act of betrayal as a young man . In the mafia you betray you die brother or not . Fredo had broken the ultimate rule so he got dealt with .

To be fair what Fredo did was a big problem but it seemed unlikely that it was on purpose and unlikely that it would happen again. Given that he was kind of a fuckup it seemed like he could be forgiven. If someone cared about their brother they probably would. It was just business. Think about it, if fredo was raking in millions and had some kind of similar innocent fuckup he probably wouldn’t have been killed.

@@huntertoledo8989 Oh, it was definitely on purpose. Remember, Fredo says that he was "angry at Michael" and that he didn't know that they would put a hit out on Michael...but he definitely KNEW he was helping the enemy of his brother. He felt bad about it, and I wish he hadn't been killed, but ultimately Michael didn't trust him and didn't see him as a brother after that

Fredo had to go, couldn’t be trusted again.

@@cmg2651 Nobody trusted him in the first place. Nobody, especially among Italians, would have thought Michael was weak for letting his brother live. Mike was just too far gone into evil to realize or care.

Where did you watch it, it’s was removed from Netflix in March ?

It's a tradition for me to watch this masterpiece once a year in winter.

@@takharamazanpolat7610 me too. I'll never get bored of rewatching both Godfather 1 and 2

Its not scarecrow😆.......its scarface

Scarcrow lol

@@deatheater4805 No, she's talking about his 1973 film Scarecrow.

@@TheDRODOR She's talking about his 1973 film "Scarecrow", not Scarface.

as a 2000s kid, its frustrating how bad movies and shows are these days, nothing is comparable to the godfather at all

1. Brando - on the waterfront 2. Pacino - godfather part 2 3. De niro - raging bull Three Best performance in film history!