1) Michael was always the son who stayed away from the family business. This changed with the murder of Solozzo and McClusky. The marriage to Apollonia is symbolic of his embracing of his father's values. He becomes immersed in Sicilian culture.
Michael has become a true Corleone (embracing both Italian culture and mob affiliation), and his marriage to Apollonia signifies Michael's official acceptance of this change and what it means for his future.
The Godfather's Michael Corleone may have loved many things, but his first wife Apollonia wasn't one of them. The pair were wed in Sicily in the mid-stages of the groundbreaking 1972 Francis Ford Coppola film, not long after Michael took refuge there after murdering police captain McCluskey and Virgil Sollozzo.
Because Michael thought his life with Kay was over once he shot and killed Virgil Sollozzo and the New York City Police Captain, Mark McCluskey. The Five Families War was still raging and Michael didn't know when, if ever, he was going to return from Sicily.
His love for Apollonia is hot, but his love for Kay is deep. She challenges him. And let's not forget, Kay is also the mother of his children. Michael loved Kay more than anyone.
Kay is increasingly repulsed by Michael's criminal life, particularly the fact that Michael's button men have become Anthony's playmates. She also fears that if the baby turns out to be another son, it will tie them to the Mafia forever. During Michael's trip to Cuba, Kay decides to leave Michael for good.
At the very end of the movie, Michael lies to his wife, Kay, about having Carlo killed. This shows that he's set his course: she won't be able to be a part of his real world and will be shut out from seeing his true, ruthless nature in action.
Not at first. Michael withheld a lot of information from Kay, which was always a problem for her. But she found out about down the line. Whether Michael told her or she heard it from Carmela or Connie or someone else in the family is unclear, but she eventually knew.
When she started the car to drive towards him, she unknowingly ignited a bomb planted in the car, intended for Michael, the subsequent explosion killed her instantly. The attack was orchestrated by Michael's trusted bodyguard, Fabrizio, who was paid off by the Barzini family from New York.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs. The punch to Michael's face broke his cheek bone which gave him a permanent black eye (and caused his sinuses to continually run - hence the use of a handkerchief all the time) until he got back to America and had surgery to fix it (Freddie says, "that doctor did a good job.")
Michael may appear to get the better of the argument in Part II—he kicks her out of the house and keeps the children—but eventually Kay remarries and becomes the children's principal parent. Still, she admits in Part III that, even though she has moved on, she continues to love Michael and always will.
There's no doubt that Michael was struck by Apollonia's beauty, but that does not indicate love. He threatened Apollonia's father in order to meet her, throwing around who he was and what he was capable of.
The tragedy for Michael is that he couldn't escape the inevitable doom of succession, despite his prior knowledge. Based on Mario Puzo's 1969 novel of the same name - The Godfather (1972), is considered as one of the greatest films of all time.
2. Michael and Vito might have placed some of the blame for Sonny's assassination on Tom. Though it turns out that Carlo Rizzi plotted with Barzini to set Sonny up, Michael and Vito probably believed that Tom didn't do enough to stop Sonny from leaving the safety of the family compound that day to find Carlo.
Michael married Appolonia because he was passionately in love with her. As the Sicilians say, he had been “struck by the thunderbolt.” She also represented redemption to him. A chance to redeem himself with a fresh start in a new and loving marriage!
Rather than ask Apollonia why she had prepared to accept the offer, he instead decides the best course of action is to hit her, replicating the abuse he had experienced from his father.
In the movie The Godfather (1972), why did Fabrizio betray Michael and kill Apollonia? For the most basic reason of all: Money. Barzini, through his sources, had managed to locate Michael (as Don Tomasino had deduced) and managed to turn Fabrizio.
But there's still the immediate and irresistible allure of Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli), Michael's young and virginal bride whom he meets while hiding in Sicily. Her beauty is bewitching, her eyes rich and mysterious, her lips plush and pink.
In The Godfather (1972 film), what would happen if Apollonia was not killed and returned to America with Michael as his wife? He still would have become the Don of the family. He'd retain the same character he had before he left, and would not have become a hardened person since Apollonia is still alive.
When Michael is brought over for a family picture, he insists Kay join in, perhaps subconsciously to associate himself more closely with her than with the Corleone family. Kay is an independent, outspoken American woman—the opposite of the submissive female Corleones, most notably the delicate and powerless Connie.
My friend and I were rewatching 1 last night, laughing about how in the movie Apollonia was probably 15 and Michael was 25, so then we googled and - she was 16/17 during filming.
Did Michael ever cheat on Kay? Neither Don Vito nor his son Michael cheated on their wives in The Godfather.
This is the real significance of The Godfather's final image: not that Kay is barred from the inner world of her husband's business, but that Michael has barred himself from the world outside. Michael, not Kay, is the one on the wrong side of the door; it's he who is shut in, not she who is shut out.
Does Michael ever forgive Kay? Michael and Kay tour Sicily together, during which Michael asks for Kay's forgiveness. Kay admits she will always love him, and they begin to rekindle their relationship.