After Complication

Hey!

This letter is about "The Godfather", an unprecedented classic I am very willing to discuss with you. Last time when I wrote to you (two days ago) I still had to prepare for my YAP interview for the next day. So I did not go into details about the movie series that I value so much. I am so happy to hear that you actually spent time during the Spring Festival to watch the saga----it is very long, about 9 hours plus in total, I think. You sounded like you really enjoyed it! Go so far as to look for its O.S.T. haha. The Jay song really gives the ambience (a wrong word here, but can suit other contexts, check it out), and is pertinent to the movie theme as well. Among those pieces in the Godfather original sound track, "Sicilian Pastorale", "Love Theme", "Apollonia" and "The Godfather Waltz" are my favourites.

You like the 1972 version best, and I like a lot about the version, too, though the 1990 version probes deeper into human nature as Michael strode in the last phase of his life. The second episode concerning Hyman Roth and Moe Greene was a bit what we call "commercial". The Las Vegas scene was relevant but less appealing in a violent setting. (personal opinion only, since gorgeous girls are merchandised by really "ugly'' men) However, I still agree that the 1972 version shows most vissicitudes of the Italian gangster family and touches me most.

I sincerely hope the following sounds more like a letter than a movie review.

The first Godfather Don Vito Corleone displayed the many virtues paradoxically co-existing with his mafia business. He valued family as a whole, never taking a photo when one was absent. He loathed the idea of drug dealing, despite the peril of turning on with the most dangerous partner. He maintained calmness and concealed his inner contradictions and anxieties from his families. He is a gangster and a family man, revered by all and dreaded by all.

The twist came when he was suddenly unable to keep his young son, Michael, "clean" from his family business after a failed assassination attempt on his own life. Michael's coolness aborted the follow-up assassin at the hospital, and he carried on to avenge for his father, killing Don Barzini and the loathsome police officer at the restaurant. Didn't you notice how cool and calm he was when he pulled the trigger that he had never touched before? And the nerdy, dreaded face of the police officer! That marked the ground-breaking emergence of a other wise low-key heir of the Corleone family.

Something interesting about the killing scene is that when I was watching it at home last year, my Dad came and noticed that Don Barzini asked for the police officer's permission before conversing with Michael in Italian, and he went on to chide me that I should do the same when I speak English with my sister. (During lunchtime when I wanted to plot something I did not want my parents to understand I always spoke in English, so they were very confused, and irritated a bit I think.) So you can imagine how aggitated I was when I was speculating whether the gun had been planted in the washroom for Michael while my Dad was...."Remember? See how cultured even the gangsters are! You two should learn from that."

Another scene which evoked fierce family discussion was about Michael's attitudes towards Kay and Apollonia, his Italian wife. When he was in exile in Italy for safety, we began to ponder whether he wound keep his promise for Kay. I gave the morally correct answer before the following scene showed how he betrayed Kay and falling for Apollonia. Others in my house were all very practical, practical, indeed, that they all undoubtedly believed that Michael would betray Kay, and I was convinced that sometimes promises just did not work out when circumstances change, and nobody should be blamed for that.

The final part about Kay's questioning Machael whether he had ordered tha killing of Connie's husband, Carlo, was soooooo touching! I kept my breath and was seriously hoping Michael to lie to her, seriously, please! Lie! Say "no" and hug her! HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT ME:) That is man. It is not about cheating, it is full of love, though how counter-intuitive and flimsy that seems.

Indeed, it was the third one that really revealed the deepest human nature and desire. Old Michael still tried to keep his promise for Kay to "legalise his family business", though Kay's belief in him was hopelessly dying down so as to aborted their son against the thousand-year-old Sicily rule and eventually left him with his son. She finally spoke out what became the biggest tragedy for Michael.

Michael Corleone: I spent my life protecting my son. I spent my life protecting my family!

Kay Corleone: Let's be reasonable here, Michael. I mean, that's your big thing, isn't it? Reason backed up by murder.

Michael Corleone: Oh, God, you hate me. You hate me.

Kay Corleone: No, I don't hate you, Michael. I dread you.

Michael Corleone: I did what I could, Kay, to protect all of you from the horrors of this world.

Kay Corleone: But you became my horror.

I pity him. That 's what he can never escape from, and never get forgiven for. Even when he eventually made a confession in front of the Pope, remorsing that "I've killed men, and I ordered men to be killed. No, it's useless. I killed... I ordered the death of my brother; he injured me. I killed my mother's son. I killed my father's son."
No matter what sins he had commited, he was still revered by all, and dreaded by all. It was his life's tragedy that his own daughter, Mary was killed for his sake. Her last call, the confused, not terrified call of "Dad", virtually extinguished every hope in his life.

So that's what I can write for now, though there are indeed much more unspeakable thoughts about Vincent, and how he controlled his emotions in a man's way. ("Love somebody else"..Great saying!) I shall stop here.
You might want to read the original, though I have never read that before.

Byeeeee!

Adieus~

This is my last letter before the holiday ends. After school reopens, I will be hurled into a whole new frenziness that will not allow my brain to function outside academics. The seven-day break is really not enough for me, but I really have to say that I have learnt a lot these days from all the activities I took part in, and the mental juggle I am going through.

After my last letter to you about the struggle between a westernized and a traditional midnset, I suddenly realise that there is no difference too wide to bridge. There are sacrifices, which we call "opportunity costs" in economics, that we have to incur when we choose one way instead of the other. So now seeing that most of my old pals, whom I have shared the same memories in my early years, end up happily in their dream universities in either Beijing, Shanghai, or Zhejiang, Guangdong, I feel a void that I am not with them. A void is not like a pity. It is not real regret but the feeling you have when you have to make a pick between two "mutually exclusive" choices. One, or the other. Not both. Never will I get both. So now when I read the blog posts of my friends in my middle school, read about their lives, their feelings, their very own joy and sorrow, I feel so detached. Maybe that is how you always feel when you read my letters. The flaky detachment when time and space just do not fit. Sometimes the whole mood can be wrong, too.

I begin to wonder how the same product would end up in two different factories, like myself. How will I end up in China. Sure I will be able to talk your "talking", use your "buzzwords", follow your trends, and moreover, think the way you people think. I cannot. Sometimes I envy you people's Chinese capability, when it suddenly dauned on me that it is myself, by reading The Times, Newsweek, The Economist, and other weekly, monthly, double-monthly...Elle, Seventeen, Vogue, etc, that I leave no time for the all-so-expressive language.

Certain events in this holiday drove that gloominess away and affirmed me that life can be soooooooo enriching right here. In the past few days, I successfully passed the 2nd Round interview and become a World Vision Singapore Youth Ambassador^^. Staying up late has become a lifestyle, too. Almost for every day since Junior College started (expect for exam days) I have to sleep after 12:30, sometimes painstakingly even later, to deal with my work, academic and non-academic.

The day before yesterday I went for volunteer work in the Autism Resource Centre for children with autistic problems and other mental disabilities. It was both a shock and great grief for me to see poor kids like that. We as volunteers played with them in the Labrado Park, cooked some food with solid fuel (I was the expert in making popcorns) and accompanied them for a night hike. There were times when things really got difficult. They could shut down all of a sudden and not talk to you or even look at you. Some went too hyper and talked to themselves, some had no sense of boundaries beween boys and girls. We lot had a difficult time but it made me realise how rewarding the whole experience was!
The day ended late till ten so I had to make up for my work late into night. Since the next day (yesterday) was another service day of street fund-raising for Jamiyah Children's Home for the Orphaned, and I had a class outing! in the afternoon, I went to bed the previous day at about 2:30am to read about Copenhagen Conference, China's currency issue, Japan's commercial whaling, Armenian's disputed massacre and all that for my General Paper. And yesterday I had no choice but to get up at 6:50, rushing to Orchard for fund-raising. I raised a lot (better than the boys there) and right after noon I jumped into my casual clothes that I brought with me and was off for class outing.

You can imagine how sleepy I was when we were eating at Fish& Co. Actually I ordered nothing since I had a bowl of 排骨面 before with the fund-raising people. I was fighting with sleepiness in the cinema when we watched Alice in the Wonderland. Thankfully Manfred shared chips with me so I could stay awake. After the movie I was so kind that I went to Swenson's with them. Of course I did not order anything in that ultra-expensive ice cream shop, but I did taste a bit of Manny's omelette and -.- French fries. (I hate it when guys can eat French fries twice a day and still stay in good figure>.<) There was a model friend, Nikki in my class with us, too. Being with her made me feel oh-so-traditional, haha~.~ She is very pretty indeed:)

I could not fall asleep when I took public transport home because we needed to talk, I stay in the same place as Manny so we got off at the same station. When I reached home I felt so tired. But today I still managed to get up early and finish my two GP essays. (I've attached them so you can read them and try to write something in your free time)

It has been raining heavily this whole holiday. The rain did not dampen my spirit. I feel much better after this hectic but fruity holiday. Now I cannot wait for the school to reopen. But I have to catch up my school work like mad since I haven't been studying these few days
I'll write to you again when I come to my senses after all another frenzy school term. You must be freaking busy, too. So reply when you feel “天时、地利、人和”. There is no need to rush.

(I know how flaky this letter seems, but that's about my life recently. You must feel awayyyyy detached, err..sorry for that, but you love listening to stories, right? :P)

~.~