The Godfather Part III: Why Coppola's New Cut Doesn't Kill Off Michael Corleone
Francis Coppola's The Godfather Coda ends with Michael's anguished scream over Mary's limp body. Why doesn't the new cut end with Michael's death?
Why does Francis Ford Coppola’s new cut of The Godfather Part III, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, not kill off Michael at the end? The Godfather III was deemed the weakest in the trilogy by audiences and critics alike, especially due to the fact that it fell short when compared to the narrative brilliance of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and felt like an unsatisfying end to an otherwise epochal saga.
The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone approaches the original through a slightly altered lens, shuffling key scenes in order to grant a special brand of urgency to Michael’s trajectory. The Godfather Part III originally ended with Michael (Al Pacino) sitting alone in utter silence outside his Lake Tahoe compound, now a shell of the person he was, which was followed by his unceremonious death on-screen. The Godfather Coda removes this scene altogether and instead decides to end with Michael’s anguished scream after his daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) is shot by the veteran hitman, Mosca. Cradling his daughter’s lifeless body, Michael finds himself excluded from redemption, both in his own eyes and that of his immediate family.
By making the creative decision of ending The Godfather Coda on this harrowing note, Coppola adds emphasis to Michael’s redemption arc, denying him the finality of death in the end. The Michael at the end of The Godfather Coda is far removed from the one audiences were introduced to in The Godfather — a young, ambitious man who intended to make a mark on the world without being involved in the family business. However, Michael was inevitably embroiled in the Corleone empire, so much so, that his ruthless rise to power culminated in multiple repercussions, including the assassination of Fredo, his estrangement with Kay (Diane Keaton), and finally, the death of his daughter. Mary’s death acts as the final nail in Michael’s coffin, in the sense that it adds a tone of finality to Michael’s spiritual death, as he is now robbed of the chance to start afresh, as he loses the one person he treasures the most.
Also, Michael’s first wife, Apollonia, who Michael perceived through the lens of innocence, had been inadvertently killed in a car explosion meant for Michael, which was also a source of guilt, and a burden he had been carrying around for quite some time. Over the years, the bodies started piling up, some intentional, while others not quite so, like the death of Mary, which was the ultimate price he had to pay for his actions. By not killing off Michael at the end of The Godfather Coda, Coppola prolongs Michael’s spiritual anguish, and the “death” referred to in the title is that of Michael’s soul, which has now been crushed in the utter absence of hope, and consumed in unsurmountable pain.
These changes to The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone improve upon the original and positions the third installment as a fitting epilogue in the trilogy, which was exactly how author Mario Puzo had envisioned it to be. While certain aspects of the movie remain unfixable, for instance, the convoluted plot progression surrounding the Immobiliare, these sequences add substance to the Al Pacino character, offering a search for legitimacy and redemption in the new cut, imbuing the character with a poignant sense of tragic pathos.