Utilizing Light and Dark In "The Godfather"

     In the movie The Godfather, many shadows are used to illustrate uncertainty or power from different characters. In the first scene of the movie, Don Corleone is sitting at his desk speaking with Bona Sera in front of a lit window. The light seems to surround the head of Don Corleone acting as a halo and showing how much power he really has. In a scene where Tom Hagen is speaking with Virgil Sollozzo, the lamp that is the only object lighting the dark room, lights only half of his face showing that he is unsure of what to do or how to act. Another example of a scene where a halo is seen is the scene where Michael goes to see his father in the hospital. Immediately after he walks into the first room of the hospital and notices that there was nobody there, he knew something was wrong. He eventually finds his father and moves his bed to a safer location. Next to Don Corleone's bed, there was a lit lamp that curve the light upwards almost engulfing Michael's head. This, I noticed, was another work of Francis Ford Coppola's to illustrate a halo around the head of the son of the Godfather. When standing next to his father's bedside Michael says, " I'm with you know" almost implying that he now a part of the mafia gang. The halo could represent that Michael has power because he is the son of the Godfather or it could imply that he could have more power than his father in the future.