How does the Godfather Part Three complete the Sicilian family and sacramental sub-themes? In Part Three Michael seeks to extend his family’s power globally. He intends to capitalize on corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. Michael plans to buy or muscle his way in through a charity named in honor of his father. He has become a Commander in order of Saint Sebastian, who is the patron saint of soldiers (q.v. Part One, Confirmation), athletes, and, ironically reprising Michael’s first murder, municipal policemen. Corleone’s goal is to purchase the Vatican’s shares of the powerful international corporation, Immobiliare. But Rome is not Sicily, New York, or Cuba. Such a mixture may prove too rich.
Michael’s honors and success contrast with his failure in the things that matter. His nuclear family has been sundered through fratricide, abortion, divorce, estrangement. The molecular family’s bonds are friable. Alliances are framed by those who do not know or care to know the old Sicilian ways. Michael has lost his grip and the Corleone Family’s heir apparent emerges from a bastardly link.
Sonny’s illegitimate son, Vincent, reprises his grandfather’s lust for revenge. He uses the ancient Sicilian method of issuing a challenge when he bites off the ear of Joey Zaza whom he feels lacks respect for the Family. Vincent kills without conscience both in New York and in Sicily. The king is dead, long live the king.
No matter how wealthy and powerful Michael Corleone has become, Part III reveals a Godfather greatly diminished. His daughter, Mary, is the front for a charitable initiative that has international tentacles way beyond her ken. Michael permits his sister, Connie, to interfere in family business. In this era no Italian family worth its salt would allow women to be equal with the men in things that matter!
Why can Michael no longer maintain Family cohesion? Michael, Kay, and Mary return to Sicily for son Anthony’s operatic debut. Michael attempts to use the visit to justify his actions. He seeks renewal at the ancient fountainhead. Family loyalty distinguishes the Sicilian persona, but Sicily cannot offer succor as it once could. The Corleone Family business no longer receives instantiation from Sicily. American ways altered the centers of power, but all the power on earth can’t change fate.
The trip to Sicily ends in tragedy when Michael’s daughter Mary is killed by a bullet intended for her father. In Roman Catholic belief the Son of God became the sacrificial offering for the sins of the family of man. Mary is the lamb who must die for the sins of her family. Christ’s blood was shed to bring forgiveness. The hot blood of revenge consumes contrition.
The remaining sacraments make their appearance in Part Three. Michael receives the sacrament of Confession from Cardinal Lamberto who is destined to become Pope. In a cathartic scene Michael confesses to the murder of his brother Fredo. However, the Cardinal rightly estimates that the sacramental admonition “go and sin no more” will not be realized in Michael’s case. Absolvo te?
In keeping with the sacramental sub-theme, the last of the seven sacraments is woven within the Godfather saga in Part Three. It is not a sacrament the laity receives. It is limited to the priesthood. We learn that Tom Hagen’s son is now a priest, having received the sacrament of Holy Orders. The family uses its influence to get the young man to Rome, which could prove to be almost as good as having a judge or two in your pocket.
The anointing of Michael’s Confessor as pope is the highest expression of this sacrament. The patronage of Cardinal Lamberto, now Pope John Paul I and head of the Vatican, could bring success to Michael’s plan to buy up the shares of Immobiliare. This final sacrament becomes sacrilege when the pope is assassinated, taking with him all hope of fulfilling Michael’s global ambitions.
Finally, as in the first part, we have a death without benefit of the Last Rites when Michael, like his father, dies unanointed. It is an appropriate end to a life lived in contraindication to everything the Catholic faith should stand to mean. Michael, and most of his crime family, will probably be damned. A dog, symbolizing Cerberus who guards the gates of Hell, closes the movie as it sniffs at Michael’s dead body.
When considered according to its outcomes, ironies, and sacramental sub-theme, the Godfather has resolved into a Morality Play. Part Three essentially completes the lesson.
Power is an inconstant mistress. “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” [Mark 8:36] Michael screams this truth when his daughter takes the bullet meant for him. Who can absolve him of this?
The Godfather is revealed as a false god. The movie’s apparent glorification of Sicilian American “Mafiosi” isn’t so apparent, nor does it glorify. Death festoons the Sicilian countryside. Corleone sacrilege brings eternal damnation.
The concept of family in the Godfather is a mockery of true Italian values. While the Sicilian idea of family honor has flowed as a bloody-stream throughout the three films, the destruction of the family and its dishonor has been the final result. Family honor is not the point; honoring the family is.
Part Three demonstrates these truths when the crime family implodes and vendetta comes full circle. The gates of hell await.
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