THE GODFATHER PART III: You Can go Home Again

Nevertheless, Coppola's movie still shines as one of his best. Some critics thought his uses of old devices - particularly his famed use of intercutting a ceremony (in this case, an opera where Michael's son Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) performs) with dirty deeds - seemed tired, but Coppola films them with energy. It's as if, contrary to what he may say, being with the Corleones again energizes him. Also energized, in a different way, is Pacino. This returns him to the character which showcased two of his best performances (in Part II, he gives what I think is the finest performance an actor has ever given on film), and he knows how to make it grow. Here, as I said before, Michael wants to break out of the wall he built around himself in Part II, and get back his humanity. If it means letting Anthony go his own way, instead of joining the family business, and letting the hotheaded Vincent (the illegimate son of Michael's brother Sonny) take over the family business, then that's what he'll do. He even donates money to the church, and tries to reconcile with Kay (Diane Keaton), his ex-wife, whom he cut off in Part II. But as Michael says in the film, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." The church isn't as incorruptible as it appears, Vincent's hotheaded nature, particularly in regards to rival gangster Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), Vincent's relationship to Mary, and the weight of all of Michael's sins of the past, all show Michael's trip to salvation won't be a fulfilling one. Pacino shows all of this, and his silent scream near the end, when he's come so close only to lose it again, is a masterful scene.

A word, now, about young Sofia. Forgetting how hard it is to cast someone at last minute, critics instead took Coppola to task for nepotism, and that was even before they saw her performance. Once the movie came out, you'd think her very appearance in the movie was a personal slight against most critics (not all, to be fair; Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael were among a few who liked her). I personally think she's awkward at times, but Coppola uses that very awkwardness for the movie. This is not the Mary which Winona Ryder might have played, but one who's experiencing first love with Vincent. This is why she

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