This is the moment that broke my heart in The Godfather part 2.
You see, people talk about Michael’s rise to power but they don’t often talk about how ill equipped he was to be the Don. Godfather 2 does more than just tell the story of two characters; it compares and contrasts Vito – the ruthless natural – with his son Michael, who was a good kid pushed into power before his time and, well, without the natural talent his father had. Yes, a talent for manipulating people, and violence, and making offers you cannot refuse, but a talent nonetheless. And like anyone pushed to excel in a role they were never made for, Michael overcompensated. We talk about the Baptism and we quote “just when I thought I was out” but here is Michael, almost broken, revealing just an inch of his tormented soul to his mother who has no frame of reference to understand why he’s so tortured, and what he’s about to do to himself, and his enemies, and his brother. He’s asking for some context and absolution and there’s none of either, not really, when you’re the Don.
Absolutely, yes, of course Michael is a monster, and a self made one, but the price he paid for power and influence cannot be overstated. He’s had to give up so much for something he didn’t even want to do, that he felt like he had to do, that eventually changed him in irreversible ways.
The other Al Pacino role that connects beautifully with this scene is when he contrasts with De Niro again, now in person, in Heat. Check out the diner scene, this bit that starts at 1:28. The subtext is text here so maybe just read it.
My life’s a disaster zone. I got a stepdaughter so fucked up because her real father’s this large-type asshole. I got a wife, we’re passing each other on the down-slope of a marriage – my third – because I spend all my time chasing guys like you around the block. That’s my life.
Vincent can’t stop, he won’t stop. What he does consumes him, is him, in such a deep way that nothing, not even genuine love, can fix. And he ends up – spoiler alert, I guess – leaving his stepdaughter at the hospital post suicide attempt and chasing his arch-nemesis and maybe the only guy who can understand him into an airport and shooting him dead, and then he holds his hand while he dies, right there on the tarmac.
These guys seem powerful. They are powerful, in a way, because they hurt themselves and everyone around them, and this is what old school masculine power is about, isn’t it, hurt and violence. At the same time, they’re completely powerless. Stuck in the image they have of themselves, and what they’re supposed to do, and what that requires of them. They’re at the top and they have nothing. They’re trapped.
I see trapped guys all around me. One day you look around and realize that through a lot of hard work and some luck you have reached the end of the scripted game, that grand plan you had for yourself since you were 18 years old. Like in Grand Theft Auto after the storylines are over, you’re left with only side quests and whatever you want to do, basically, in a huge sandbox universe. What do you do then? Many can’t break out of their own mind.
We’ve settled on a single narrative in tech that success is incompatible with happiness. There’s one scorecard, money, and as long as you’re on the leaderboard you’re all set, life is good, you have it all figured out, and nothing else matters. I get it, it’s hard to evaluate something less tangible like happiness, or ethics, or just being able to have a full night’s sleep, but looking at the folks we put on a pedestal, I see achievement, for sure, but I also see a bunch of trapped unhappy guys. The SPAC king posting thirst traps. The insanely successful innovator who can’t sleep without Ambien. The recluse king in his remote village, trying to remake reality so it makes any type of sense to him. Trapped, trapped, trapped. Trapped in a perception of who they need to be, of what their value is to the world, in how they get their sense of meaning, because money and virtual internet points are stuff you can always have more of. Powerful, influential people, much more than me or you. Trapped nonetheless.
You don’t need to have tragically ended your life in a fiery hell, surrounded by paid-for sycophants, for evidence you’ve been trapped. For many of us it’s much more mundane: another promotion, another business trip, another notch on the belt, this or that logo on our business card. Feeling like you’re worthless without your achievements and that the intensity that got you here should carry you on for the rest of your life. Like Walter White, you Just Need More. It would be tragic if we let ourselves and our generation go on feeling like money and score keeping are all that matters, and happiness isn’t only unattainable, it’s incompatible with success. In reality, happiness starts when you realize you have enough. Then you start to see the lines of the cage you’ve built and can consider whether, and on what terms, you want out.