I’ll start out by saying that the movie, The Godfather is one of President Obama’s favorite movies.
In the movie You’ve Got Mail Tom Hanks’ character Joe, types to Kathleen, Meg Ryan’s character:
JOE: The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question. What should I pack for my summer vacation? “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” What day of the week is it? “Maunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday.” And the answer to your question is “Go to the mattresses.”
You’re at war. “It’s not personal, it’s business. It’s not personal it’s business.” Recite that to yourself every time you feel you’re losing your nerve. I know you worry about being brave, this is your chance. Fight. Fight to the death.
I’ve always remembered those lines and quite frankly, I agree with Joe!
The other day CNN’s Jack Cafferty asked the question:
Here’s my question to you: Historically, what does the killing of Osama bin Laden compare to?
The following answer stood out because I had been noticing some Godfather parallels as well.
It’s the Godfather, Jack. First Saif Gaddaffiand some of his sons in a bomb blast in an upscale suburb, then Bin Ladenin a massive hit at a fortified mansion.. Moammar Gaddaffi is sure to follow, Mubarak may go away for a long time, and in this administration’s cinematic way, Ahmadinejad will probably get it in the bathtub.
I didn’t have that particular scene in mind but one can make the analogy between President Obama’s attendance at the White House Correspondents Dinner and Michael Corleone’s presence at the baptismal ceremony, after Obama gave order to take bin Laden out.
I heard MSNBC’s Chris Matthews compare the shots to bin Laden’s eye reminiscent of the “Moe Greene” execution in The Godfather II. That was pretty far fetched, but so is this entire exercise. But let’s continue…
Maureen Dowd saw what I saw as well:
No wonder the president’s top generals call him “a Cool Hand Luke.”
After giving the order for members of a Navy Seals team to execute a fantastically daring plan to, let’s be honest, execute Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama put on a tuxedo and gave a comedy speech Saturday night in a Washington ballroom of tippling journalists and Hollywood stars.
If we could have seen everything unfolding in real time, it would have had the same dramatic effect as the intercutting in the president’s favorite movie, “The Godfather,” when Michael Corleone calmly acts as godfather at his nephew’s baptism at church, even as his lieutenants carry out the gory hits he has ordered on rival mobsters.
So, what say you, readers? Are there any parallels between The President’s actions this past week or so and any part of The Godfather Trilogy?
Related Articles
- The Godfather Connection! Lasting Friendship Between George W. Bush and Bin Laden (socyberty.com)
- Senators misled by likely fake bin Laden photos (via CNN Political Ticker) (richardemanuel.wordpress.com)
- Obama will not release photo of bin Laden (boston.com)
- Senators misled by likely fake bin Laden photos (via CNN Political Ticker) (thespiritportal.wordpress.com)
- Gotta Watch: Dissecting bin Laden’s effect (via This Just In) (thespiritportal.wordpress.com)
What I find noteworthy is the widespread tendency of both the American public and the American news media to watch reality unfold as entertainment. I understand the tendency to compare real situations to what we have seen on the silver screen. But it is a dangerous tendency. (When I heard Bin Laden had been shot in the eye I too thought of Moe Green.) But, if you recall, the bullet going through Moe Green’s eye in The Godfather ended that scene. The scene immediately cut away from the sauna where Green had been laying on a table getting a massage. Green’s death, therefore, was slightly comical, and very entertaining.
The reality of Osama Bin Laden’s death was him being shot in the eye in front of his daughter (not that he didn’t deserve to be shot). Her mother was shot in the leg trying to protect him. There was screaming and smells of blood and broken bowels and immeasurable human trauma that ended for Bin Laden that day but which will last for those who witnessed it for the rest of their lives. I understand that’s the way the cookie crumbled. Nevertheless the horror of human death in war or anywhere else is trivialized, I think by seeing it through the lens of a movie critic. And IMO (you asked for it) human death should never be trivialized.
And IMO (you asked for it) human death should never be trivialized
Point taken LTL. I was simply floored by the comparisons to The Godfather.
However, your serious point of view has not gone unheeded.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to death being portrayed in movies or fiction – especially, say, horror movies with their camp displays of death and destruction. It’s just when I find myself comparing real death to stylized movie death that I have to catch myself
Apparently comparing real death to “stylized movie death”, LTL, appears to be in our national collective DNA. The sources I cited came from various places around the internet and yet they all seem to use the “Godfather analogy” to describe Obama’s swagger while handling the bin Laden drama.
Americans were brought up on movies and television. When you see a cool looking head of state who dresses impeccably, has nerves of steel, can multi-task and get extremely complex problems solved AND has a wicked (in a good way) sense of humor, it shouldn’t be surprising that people will begin to elevate him to almost super-human status.
Compare and contrast LTL:
Michael Corleone and Barack Obama both delegate serious tasks to their “people”.
Both are confident and comfortable in their own skin.
Cut from the same mold…even down to their European suits and Italian shoes.
I don’t think this whole excercise (post) is about bin Laden’s death as much as it is about the perception of the man…Obama/Corleone. The reality v. the myth, so to speak.
It’s America, LTL, that’s how we roll. We like to elevate our heroes to mountainous heights. (Witness Mt. Rushmore. LOL)
Point well taken – in which case it might be fun to try to imagine Michael Corleone’s reaction if you had told him in the future he would be compared to a Barack Obama who would be America’s first African American president.
I think he would have given you a seemingly endless stare and then rolled his eyes.
While it’s true that the President did state, even as a candidate, his intention to approve an operation like the one conducted on May 1-2, I think that many Americans and Pakistanis were simply floored when it actually went down.
That may be the closest parallel between the Godfather films and this raid. The terabytes of information (the size of “a small college library”) seized in the raid speak volumes – no one expected this. bin Laden and his supporters, apparently one or more within the Pakistani government, underestimated President Obama and just didn’t believe that he would order a operation like this without notification.
Welcome Al. I like your analysis. More on that later when I return from dinner with the family.