A Bronx Tale: Influenced by Two

Influenced by Two

In the film A Bronx Tale, the main character, Calogero, learns different life lessons from two very influential people in his life. He learned to love and to accept people for who they are. He learned these lessons from his biological father, Lorenzo and his “adoptive” father, Sonny. Though they had different views on life and on what was right, they wanted to see the best for “C”. They were more concerned about him going to school and becoming something greater than what they were.

Lorenzo, Calogero’s biological father, taught “C” many things about life, love and working hard. He believed that the “saddest thing in life was wasted talent” and he taught Calogero that it was better to work for a living and doing the “right thing.” Throughout the film, one could see that after Calogero lies to the detective in order to help Sonny and stay out of trouble, Lorenzo has a hard time influencing Calogero. He had the greatest impact on Calogero when he was younger. He taught him about baseball and the life of a working man. But once Sonny get in the picture and tells Calogero about Mickey Mantle and how Mantle would have never done anything for him, Calogero finds himself stuck trying to figure out who has more love for him, Lorenzo or Sonny.

Sonny, the head of the Italian gangsters, took “C” under his wing at the age of 9 after the shooting that happened in front if “C’s” door step. Calogero chose not to snitch to the detectives about who shot the victim and Sonny then took a liking to Calogero. He even changed his name to “C”. Calogero and Sonny became very close, even though his father Lorenzo told him that Sonny was bad business. Calogero got two kinds of education through Sonny: he learned the ways of the streets and also learned Sonny would much rather be feared than be loved. One example of what Calogero learned was when he realized that he had “gotten rid” of the person who owed him money easily because that person would never come back and ask him to borrow money again. Calogero grew up learning the ways of the mob and learned an important lesson which was “All the choice’s made throughout a person’s life, would affect that person’s life forever.”

Though Sonny and Lorenzo did not see eye to eye, Lorenzo tells Calogero that he did not hate Sonny. Lorenzo and Sonny wanted the best for Calogero. They both wanted him to get an education. They both had love for Calogero and wanted him to drop the friends that he had. Calogero was lucky to find two people willing enough to go out of their ways to teach him lessons that would impact his life forever.