When the movie "The Godfather" hit the screens in mid-March 1972, no one thought it was a particularly important movie.
The book, on which it was based, was negligible, the director and most of the actors inexperienced, and Marlon Brando, the only known star to appear in it, is considered to have long since passed his fame.
Within months the film had become an extraordinary commercial success, winning three top Oscars and being recognized as a masterpiece, leading to this day the list of best feature films.
50 years later, Don Corleone's eye did not darken and no miracle went away.
The various elements that made "The Godfather" a blockbuster are still evident today: the acting and plot are sweeping, and the melancholy waltz that Nino Rota added to the film's soundtrack still vibrates.
However, it is not the artistic qualities of the film that are responsible for turning it into a cultural phenomenon with no expiration date, but rather the choice of Francis Ford Coppola, its creator, to flood through it a selection of weighty and thought-provoking themes.
While the plot depicts revenge taking place in the underworld, the delinquent situation is nothing more than a springboard to discuss a burning social question: Is the desire to assimilate stronger than the desire to remain true to the tribal tradition, or perhaps quite the opposite?
The American Immigrant Society grappled with this question, but it also referred to the Israeli Immigrant Society.
On the night of the film's premiere, the Jerusalem "Black Panthers" performed one of their daring actions: stealing milk and distributing it to low-income families.
The dilemmas that the "godfather" dealt with were very relevant, it turns out, to the land of the circumcised as well.
As you may recall, the film opens with a big family wedding.
Also attending the celebration is Michael Corleone, an officer decorated in the U.S. Army.
He shows a reserved attitude to family life, to Sicilian serenades, to the culture of crime, to sticky cohesion.
"These are my family," he would tell his fiancée, "I'm not like that."
Family for him is a source of embarrassment.
Like many second-generation immigrants, Michael prefers the national flag across the community lap.
The main protagonist of the film is, in fact, a kind of convergent.
The two hours that come after the wedding lead Michael back home and the new American to old Sicily.
A series of events requires him to choose a side.
The statement that opens the film - "I believe in America!"
- turns out to be ironic, and the failure of the policy of the 20th Century US crucible is exposed to the naked eye. On the stability of any country made up of diverse social foundations.An immigrant society that refuses to combine national loyalty with family affiliation may, according to Coppola, find itself sleeping with the fish.
Half a century has passed, the curls of the actors have returned, but on the Mediterranean coast as if nothing has happened yet.
Events that happen to us frequently, such as the argument between MK Amsalem and Judge Hayut, make it clear that we have not yet solved the problems that "The Godfather" points to. Therefore, it is worth returning to it one more time.
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