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This past summer, my grandfather and I undertook a joint-mission: a bingeing of the legendary Godfather trilogy. After having knee surgery just two weeks before, it was exactly what I needed: to be out of my home and away from my immediate family, with whom I was marooned with during my post-surgery recovery. What better an opportunity for escape than watching classic films that I had not yet seen?
As we began our cinematic odyssey, I realized something about what the experience meant for my grandfather. It was clear that to him, these films were vital to understanding the culture during which he was a young adult. It took the first scene of the Godfather for me to realize this. During the classic wedding scene, my grandfather spoke about the film in a way where you could just tell from the inflections in his voice that these movies meant something to him. Not only did the films themselves mean something to him, but I could tell that spreading this cultural experience to his grandson was important to him as well.
My grandfather has always been the type of person to convince people to watch the films which he loves (there’s a classic tale in my family about his obsession with Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves during the 90s, and more recently La La Land), yet there was something different about watching the Godfather trilogy with him when compared to the other films we had watched together. As we journeyed through the trilogy, not only did I grow to love them myself, being in awe by performances from Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and the rest of the all-star ensemble, but I felt something serendipitous while watching a movie about a patriarch with the patriarch of my own family.
The movies also served as a bit of an escape for the two of us as well. Lately, when visiting my grandparents, the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming election have predominated our conversation, and while we’re generally respectable, we don’t always see eye-to-eye. Watching the Godfather films with my grandfather served as a haven for us to enjoy the company of one another without discussing contentious issues. It reminded me that it is possible in 2020 to enjoy the company of another person without being reminded of the despairing state of the world.
While I do not agree with many of the themes in the Godfather movies, and I certainly am not one to encourage a crime family, I can genuinely say I love these films. They are beautifully made, jam-packed with, at times, unmatched acting performances, but they also reminded me that it is possible to coexist in 2020. For the past year of my life, I have been comparable to the prodigal son archetype of Michael Corleone, but I had my moment of return too. Maybe my return is not quite the same as Michael’s, as it was the result of a global pandemic, but I was given some time with my family that I otherwise wouldn’t have had. Much like Don Vito in the Godfather trilogies, I know my grandfather has dedicated a lot of his life to being our patriarch; and while, thankfully, my grandfather isn’t a criminal mastermind like the Don, he serves as our emotional rallying point and has always been a voice of clarity and warmth.
Watching the Godfather films may have been the most important thing I did this summer, and because of my experience, I challenge you to take some time to coexist with someone you love. Put aside the politics, the disagreement, and the pandemic (if it is safe for you to do so) and simply coexist and enjoy a beautiful piece of art. It’ll mean more to you than you can imagine, as I know it has for me.