The Baptism Scene Analysis

The Baptism scene is arguably the most famous scene in film and also a great piece of cinematic history. The scene takes place right after Vito dies and Michael realizes that he is going to lead the Corleone family. He also realizes that there is going to be a full fledged war between the five families. In this scene we see Michael Corleone getting baptized along with his sister’s four month old baby whom, Michael is also about to become Godfather. As we see them both receiving their sacraments, we see events unfolding which is the order, made by Michael, which is to eliminate the leader of each of the five rival families in New York. Coppola used 67 shots over five minutes; the first half averaged six seconds, while the next half were a third of the length each. Between the pacing and the juxtaposition of violent killing with religious ritual, Coppola made a statement about Michael’s willingness to gamble with his soul. The editor uses parallel cutting between the Baptism of the Don and the murders performed by the gangsters to portray the idea that the baptism that is performed is an evil baptism that bonds the crime of the murders to the name of the Don.
This is an example of how unholy the baptism is because the holy water does not represent a bond with god, but instead it symbolizes the binding of crimes to the Don. There are quite a few thematic connections, and one of them are the comparison between good and evil. Michael is now the new godfather of his nephew and he is also the godfather of the family now. The good that is happening in the baptism is compared to the evil happening at the same time also by his orders. The theme that is created is good vs