Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Godfather - Camera Movements



This scene begins as we the viewer are looking at Sollozzo, we see him through Michaels position but not through his eyes. As the scene progresses however the camera angle changes and Michaels shoulders become no longer in shor and we begin to see through Micheal's eyes.
By seeing through his eyes we are able to understand how truly out of his comfort zone he is and we see his attempts to maintain eye contact with the man he is about to murder. These point of view shots in this scene and seeing through the eyes of the character relastes to "The Conversation" as we see the majority of the movie through Harry Caul's eyes.
Michael can barely speak Italian and towards the end of Sollozzo's (un-subtitled) speech in Italian Michael tries to reply to him, in Italian, but is unable and so he has to resort to English. Michael excuses himself to go to the bathroom, as he gets up to leave there is a slow pan going down his leg as we follow Sollozzo's hand frisking Michael for weapons.
As Michael goes to retrieve the gun hidden in the bathroom we begin to enter his head more. He leaves the bathroom and the camera has moved away from Michael, showing a wide shot of the restaurant as he returns to the table. As he returns subtle sounds e.g a fork clanking and footsteps become louder and louder and as they increase the camera becomes increasingly closer to Michael and we as the viewer are able to see and understand how uneasy he is about the situation and how he is intensly trying to advoid eye-contact.
Muchael abruptly stands up and we (as the viewer) become once again distanced from hiim. Michael fires and shoot Sollozzo, then, turns to McCluskey and shoots him twice. Before he pulls the trigger to shoot McCluskey the camera moves slightly closer to Michael, showing him from the weist up hold the gun, flinching slightly as he pulls the trigger. After the shootings we see Michael and the rest of the restaurant from a distance.
This scene is an important turning point in the film as it shows Michael becoming fully engrosed in the "family business".

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