In the "Godfather" series, Michael Corleone had to sacrifice his original future plans and embarked on the road of gangsters because he had to take on the responsibilities of his family.
Over time, he lost himself.
In Al Pacino's acting career, Michael Corleone is definitely the most representative role.
But only one Michael does not represent all of Al Pacino.
Because those troublesome characters on the verge of madness are Al Pacino's real skills.
Caprice, the fierce bandit who roars at every turn in "Supreme Detective" ;
Jimmy Hoffa, the blatantly paranoid union boss in "The Irishman" ;
There is also Tony Montana in "Scarface" , a gangster who is completely opposite to Michael Corleone.
From start to finish, Tony Montana stuck to and released himself.
He is a typical egocentric.
Unlike "Forrest Gump" and "Rocky", these positive energy stories about the rise of little people, "Scarface" , which tells Tony Montana from street gangster to gangster, is tragic.
In addition to gang epics such as "The Godfather" and "Once Upon a Time in America" , "Mission Impossible" director Brian de Palma has created a personal gangster movie.
The film is adapted from "Scarface" , which was released in 1932, based on the life of Al Capone .
Al Capone was the most influential gang boss in the 1920s and 1930s. He was known as the "Underground Mayor of Chicago." According to legend, more than half of Chicago police officers worked for him. Because he was scratched with a knife when he was a student, the scar on his face became his legendary symbol in the future.
Tony Montana's character prototype is Al Capone.
However, Brian de Palma did not intend to make a "pseudo-biographical film" by Al Capone like the original movie. He took Oliver Stone's script to narrate brand new characters and stories.
First of all, the background of the story has changed from the 30s to the 80s.
Ever since Fidel Castro's anti-dictatorship revolution succeeded, Cuba became a socialist country, and the "neighbor" the United States has been in trouble.
In the 1960s, the Bay of Pigs incident and the Cuban Missile Crisis almost led to war.
In 1980, Castro wanted to continue to cause trouble for the United States.
He opened the Mariel port, on the surface, to allow some Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States, but in fact, to send a group of criminals to the United States.
Tony Montana is a drop in the ocean of refugees.
The second-generation godfather Michael Corleone is deep and restrained, and the grassroots gangster Tony Montana is violent and arrogant, and Al Capone, who controls the overall situation in the underground world, is completely different.
Al Pacino, who grew up in poverty and chaos as a child, had a similar experience to Tony. He was also a street gangster who was born at the bottom of society.
Ken Lipper, the screenwriter of "City Hall" , revealed that Al Pacino is the eldest brother of their little boy gang.
So Tony is a more suitable role for Al Pacino than Michael.
Although he came from a humble background, Tony was pretentious and just wanted to make "big tea and rice."
In the first interrogation room scene, Al Pacino showed Tony's "Fairstar" temperament. He was not stage fright, he was not let down by a few police officers alone, and he even rebelled against the guest.
No matter who he faced, Tony wouldn't sullen under his breath.
When dealing with American gangsters, he was directly angry.
When the other party called him a dishwasher, he was very upset, showing that he is a person with strong self-esteem.
Even when he was about to be killed, he would never beg for mercy, and would rather die than surrender.
He feels that with his full blood, he can make a blood path in the dark world, so as long as he is not afraid of the sky and the earth, he can be invincible and do whatever he wants.
Even the gang boss Frank didn't pay much attention to him.
Everyone knows that seduce the eldest brother's sister-in-law is a gang taboo, but Tony has a fancy to Frank's woman Elvira at a glance, and unscrupulously launched the pursuit.
Elvira is played by Berlin actress Michelle Pfeiffer, the "first generation Wasp" who appeared in "Ant-Man 2 ".
When she was young, she was amazed, and she played the role of a vase that could not be ignored.
Only the multinational drug lord Sosa can barely defeat the arrogant Tony.
After negotiating with Sosa and discussing with Frank immediately, the two scenes can be used as a comparison.
After seeing Sosa's greatness, Tony had obviously dissatisfied Frank, and felt that Frank was too conservative in doing things and was not worthy of being his boss.
Starting from the fight against Frank, Al Pacino's emotions were completely opened.
He can say things that he has always wanted to say but never said in reality, do things that he wants to do but never want to do, and perform "liberate" him.
Egocentrism advocates complete freedom, do whatever one wants, without ethical constraints, and all decisions are based on the wishes of "I".
Tony is only governed by his own thoughts, and his morals are only restricted by his own thoughts. It can be said that everything except himself is false and has no effect on him.
However, the rules of the objective world cannot be ignored.
Tony's ego and dunya form a confrontational relationship.
In the restaurant scene after meeting Sosa for the second time, Tony angered passers-by. He believes that these "good guys" with a bit of status and status are all hypocritical, and only him, the "bad guy", lives the most real life.
This argument is a bit like "Goodfellas" in Henry Hill's argument, those of ordinary office workers just because no guts, will be helpless to do "good."
The world seems to only allow you to be a good person.
Tony, who dares to face the true self, just wants to be himself, no matter if he is a good person or a bad person.
He disregarded the rules of the world, and his extreme egocentricism made him start to confront the whole world, and it also made him step into the abyss of loneliness.
The so-called fight is easy, but it is difficult to defend.
Basically the brave and brave Tony is destined to be hard to be the boss for a long time. He can't listen to everyone's opinions, and the result is that everyone around him leaves him one by one.
Even so, he still feels good about himself and thinks he can conquer the world alone.
In the bathroom scene, his wife and good brother left one after another, and the camera zoomed out from near, suggesting that Tony's insignificance was contradictory with his arrogant lines of "nobody needs".
The arrangement of his family play was successful.
In the original "Scarface" , Tony had an incestuous relationship with his sister Gina.
The new version of "Scarface" has made a different open interpretation.
When she came home for the first time, Gina came out to hug Tony excitedly, and it was easy for the audience to mistake them for a couple.
In the end, Gina asked Tony if he liked herself, the love between men and women, which was regarded as a tribute to the plot of the original.
The audience can think that Tony really likes Gina secretly, that's why he has a strong possessive desire.
If combined with theme and role modeling, Tony's feelings for Gina are actually more appropriate to interpret as "family responsibility".
Tony has his own morals and principles, and family is where his conscience still exists.
The good brother Manny knew him. He said that Gina was the only pure thing in Tony's life, so no one was allowed to defile her.
Excessive protection caused Gina to resist. He eventually lost all of them and fell into the abyss of loneliness.
Egocentrism and loneliness are twin concepts. Only those who are self-isolated can be completely alone.
Absolute egocentricism is equivalent to absolute freedom in form, that is, it is not responsible for the rationality of others. Therefore, it is difficult to have a sense of freedom that is absolutely in line with everyone in reality, unless everyone becomes an absolute egocentric. But the respect for morality eases the tension between this in a sense.
This shows that Tony's "badness" is also limited.
He has a strong desire to protect women and children, which is his "good" side. Ironically, it was precisely because of his own moral restraint that ultimately destroyed him.
Even if he lost everything, Tony still had the ultimate self.
The last shootout can be regarded as a classic in movie history. Tony single-handedly confronted an armed force, implying his "confrontation" with the world. Although his strength is very different, he can be full of confidence.
Al Pacino’s madness is full of coolness, just like Kuafu chasing the day, not overpowering, but the desire to conquer the world, which cannot be effectively suppressed.
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