Significance of the diner scene at the end.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Godfather: Part II
manubhatt3 — 9 years ago(September 08, 2016 12:07 AM)
What is the significance of the diner scene at the end, where Mike and all his family were having dinner(except Vito)? What is the director trying to show?
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islamovicedin-650-816751 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 01:27 PM)
The significance of that scene is that it happens right after Fredo was killed. Michael was so innocent and wasn't a part of the family business at that point and when he says that he joined the army, Fredo is the only one that offers sympathy for him, while everyone else calls him stupid. And while the beginning of the scene is so joyful (relating back to Godfather Part I, when everybody was happy and the Corleones were so powerful), once everyone leaves to wish Vito happy birthday, Michael is left all alone at the table (a metaphor to the end of the second film when he kills Fredo (ironically the only one who congratulated him) and it shows the dark side of what Michael has become since the beginning.
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Alex_Hodgkinson — 9 years ago(September 23, 2016 05:23 PM)
Yeah, and it demonstrated that Michael had everything before. A family and a future, but in his desire for power and status after becoming Don, he loses all of that. He had everything when he didn't want anything and was satisfied with the life he was living. But everyone he's done has left him completely alone, bar Tom Hagen and his sister, who both grew rather distant.
"It hurts, doesn't it? Being in pain." - Daredevil, a lawyer, 2015
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michael-judd — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 02:24 AM)
"I have my own plans for my future".
Years later, after everyone around him is dead or distanced from him, he is shown reflecting on that time in his life when he enjoyed both closeness with his family, and a desire to go and do his own thing, away from the criminal actions of his family. It shows that fate conspired against him, despite his every intention he is eventually more deeply entangled in a life of violence than his father ever was. It's a masterpiece of a scene, capped perfectly with the flash forward to him sitting alone in his chair, worry lines embedded deep around his eyes, hair greying, deep in his own thoughts, reflecting on the idealistic young man he once was.