Tuesday, 09 June 2009
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Currently
The Godfather Part II - The Coppola Restoration
By Al Pacino, Robert De Niro
see relatedConsider Fredo
nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae
Tother day was odd. I had Gounod’s Ave Maria stuck in my head, so I started listening to it again and again. Andre Voccelli’s version is amazing. As I listened, my eyes would tear up when he sang “ora pro nobis peccatoribus”. I found this odd because I didn’t understand what he was saying. Has that ever happened to you?I wanted to know what he was singing so poignantly, therefore turned I to the Interwebs and started reading all about it. I did not know that Gounod wrote only the melody for the song. He was listening to Bach’s first prelude and wrote this melody to go on top of it. Good idear and beautiful outcome, 137 years after Bach wrote the prelude.
I had sung many portions of a Catholic Mass in various choirs throughout high school and college, but never an Ave Maria. My Church of Christ directors would teach us to sing an Agnus Dei or a Kyrie Eleison but I guess they couldn’t bring themselves to lead an Ave Maria seeing as how it is a prayer to Mary. I knew in my head that Ave Maria meant “Hail Mary”, but I did not know that the song Ave Maria (Gounod’s version anyway), was just the Hail Mary prayer in Latin (or I guess really, the Hail Mary is the Ave Maria in English
)So anyway, turns out Andre is asking Mary to “pray for us sinners” at the climax of the tune. Something about the sound of the syllables and the passion in his voice goes straight to my heart. I can’t s-plain it.
It was odd to me that the day I spent listening to Ave Maria and familiarizing myself with the words to the Hail Mary prayer, on that day, The Sniper decides we should watch The Godfather II. If you recall, towards the end of the movie, Michael performs his most evil act in the entire saga when he orders the murder of his own brother, Fredo.Fredo is a testament to John Cazale’s tremendous acting prowess.Cazale created such a pathetic, ineffectual loser. Very brave performance. No one admires Fredo. No one wants to emulate him. He is liked and pitied, but not scorned or despised (except by his wife, of courseL). I wouldn’t object to the postulate that Fredo’s murder is the only truly evil thing Michael orchestrates in the whole saga.
But it struck me as I was watching the movie, that although there is not much admirable at all about Fredo, he dies extremely well. As a matter of fact, I may need to revise my lists of best and worst ways to die after certain events this week.Reading about David Carradine’s untimely demise might just top the Top 5 Worst Ways To Die. And, after re-visiting TG Part II, I think Fredo’s death has to be on the Top 5 Best Ways To Die.
Really? Yeah, really. Consider this, Fredo had recently (so it seemed) reconciled with his brother so he has his family back, then he goes fishing (fishing is just about the only thing Fredo has ever had any success at, so there he is doing something he loves). In an earlier scene Fredo is shown revealing his “secret to catching fish” to his nephew. The secret is (shhhhh) – you say a Hail Mary before you cast your line. So Al Neri motors fisherman Fredo out to the middle of beautiful Lake Tahoe, and there Fredo is baiting his hook and saying his Hail Mary, and the camera backs away as he’s reciting and you see the peaceful beauty of the setting, and then right after he says “pray for us sinners”, Al Neri shoots him in the back of the head. Ironically, had he been allowed to continue, Fredo’s next words would have been “now and at the hour of our death.”
Heretofore, I have lived my life in such a way that no one has shot me in the back of the head or attempted assassinating me in any manner to my knowledge. My continued hope is that my life will be a blessed one and lived in such a way that no one longs for my violent death. Sewphar seauxgud. However, if I can’t die like Boromir or William Travis (i.e. defending the innocent atop a mound of my slain enemies
), then I think I would choose to go like Fredo. In a beautiful place, doing something I love, right in the middle of my prayers. Fredo’s life was pretty failed, but it sure ended well.How bout you? How do you wanna go when you go?
AU~out
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Comments (10)
I always thought that was the best scene in the movie.
I would like to die like Christopher Dock on my knees in prayer.
Christopher Dock (c. 1698 – 1771) was a Mennonite Teacher. He immigrated to the United States by 1714, becoming a teacher at Skippack in Philadelphia County,Pennsylvaniaby 1718. After teaching for ten years, he turned primarily to farming, Three years later, he returned to teaching and continued as a schoolmaster until his death late in 1771, when he failed to return home from the Skippack school. He was found there on his knees, where it had been his habit to pray for his students.
@seedsower - What a great story! I heard of a Texas preacher who was in the pulpuit preaching about Heaven and he, waxing eloquent, pointed his finger heavenward and said something like, "When I am called home..." and then fell down and passed away.
I look forward to meeting Brother Dock
I love the death scene in the movie, Titanic, when the old man and woman know they will surely die. They huddle together in the tiny bed and kiss and tell each other how much they are loved. Beautiful.
And you are right about David Carradine. That's ultimate humiliation. Or, Elvis. or maybe Momma Cass. I guess dying of excess is just bad all the way around.
Well I, to coin a phrase from a wise woman, just want to wake up dead. Don't wanna know it's coming.
That is all.
I don't have any plans for 'how best to die'. sorry.
@iamdixiedydo - that was a sweet (yet horrible) death. Good work!
@darabrat - Truly, that surprises me
i've always wanted to be able to be in a cage with a grown leapord or lion and play with them, to the point of even them killing me on accident, not that i would choose that death, but it would a cool one :)
I DVR'ed The Freshman the other night and watched it last night. Of course, The Godfather is the undercoat of that movie. It was funny that after your post about death and Fredo, I watched The Freshman watch Michael Corleone give Fredo the kiss of death and call him a traitor. Surreal.
The Freshman is a wonderful movie.
I've come to appreciate the Ave Maria deeply over the last several years, after becoming Catholic, and after getting over my lack of understanding of "marian theology." It's a very beautiul song, but I never gave it much thought before then. It just made me think of Italy. I LOVE what you have to say about it here, though. Kudos to you.
I've never watched the Godfather movies. I'm not sure I could handle all the mob stuff in them, though I'm sure I've watched stuff that's harder to watch. I agree with your assessment of that death. It would be a good way to go, though sounds untimely. I'd like to go gently, as painlessly as possible. Perhaps in my sleep in old age. I hate the idea that I could outlive my husband...I don't think I'd like life without him and I hope never to face that trial. I wouldn't give up on life, but I sure wouldn't have the same joy in living.