Originally Posted by Godsend
I don't get the ending at all...and I'm a bit confused.
Sonny died by Barzinni's hands, right?
Then who gave Barzinni the heads up that Sonny was coming? Was Carlo, the guy who got married in the beginning, part of Barzinni's "group".
It is Carlo who sold-out Sonny. Obviously. But I don't think there's any implication that he was a member of another of the five Families who infultrated the Corleones by marriage. He was simply sick of being tossed table scraps and treated with no respect (shades of Fredo in
Part II), so for probably a little cash and a couple promises he helped them get Sonny (who he didn't like anyway). And that's why, even though he's Carla's husband, Michael shows him no mercy. This will seriously effect Michael and Carla's relationship in
Part II (though she becomes as ruthless as him by
Part III).
Also, all the men that died at the end were confusing...Who killed them and who were they. Mainly during and after the Baptist scene. ???
The Corleone Family and their contractors went on that killing spree at the end of the film, under orders from the new Godfather Michael Corleone. The targets were not just the Barzini Family, though they were key, but all of the Five Families. After his own assassination attempt, Sonny's death and Michael's seclusion, Vito made peace for the sake of staying alive and in a state of grief and shock. After he died and Michael ascended to full power, he decided to take care of all the old debts. Quickly. Decisively. And his father told him how to identify the traitor in their midst (not Carlo, which was obvious, but Abe Vigoda's Tessio). The war his father had tried to stop after the first blows were struck against them, Michael started and finished in one bloody day. He became everything his father didn't want him to be, but in doing so made the Corleone Family
the dominant New York crime syndicate. This too will have consequences in
Part II, and all of it will drive Michael's attempt for absolution of his sins in
Part III.
Was it really all that complicated?