The Godfather Part II
“My father taught me many things here – he taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
Michael Corleone follows in his father’s footsteps with conviction. He does so fearlessly and ruthlessly. In THE GODFATHER PART II, Michael’s eyes no longer show any sign of emotion with what he does, however they do betray the price he has paid for his position. Power is poison.
THE GODFATHER PART II is in part a sequel and in part a prequel to THE GODFATHER. In the present we follow Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone clan, after the death of his father Vito. Loyalties are tested, the Corleone imperium is built up further and the new Don Corleone experiences at first hand that a life at the top leads to a life filled with constant threat and paranoia. In addition, in a series of flashbacks we meet Vito as a young boy in Sicily. After the murders of the rest of his family, Vito can narrowly escape and travels from Italy to New York. There, Vito (Robert De Niro) works his way up from petty thief to the most powerful mafia boss in New York.
THE GODFATHER PART II is the first film where Al Pacino and Robert De Niro both appear on screen, although without sharing any scenes. But their striking performances quickly cemented their status as America’s most celebrated actors. Afterwards, Pacino and De Niro would share a set three more times (in Michael Mann’s HEAT, Jon Avnet’s RIGHTEOUS KILL and Martin Scorsese’s THE IRISHMAN).
During the development of THE GODFATHER PART II, director Francis Ford Coppola was very wary of simply repeating the first film. This led him to not only depict the rise of the Corleone family under Vito but also the fall of the clan under Michael. THE GODFATHER PART II is the first ‘sequel’ to ever win the Oscar for Best Film, just like THE GODFATHER, and shows us that the movie far exceeds the term ‘sequel’. Both films compete with each other for the title of ‘best gangster movie of all time’, but actually they can’t be seen separately from each other. Luckily though, we screen both movies – on 35MM, and followed by the third part – after each other.
On Sunday the 1st of November 2026, we screen THE GODFATHER TRILOGY at De Cinema. With THE GODFATHER on 35MM, THE GODFATHER PART II on 35MM and THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE in 4K.
