The story is the last sequel of The Godfather series and it describes Michel Corleone's struggles to win back his family, to become a better man and a better father by atoning for his sins and by returning to legal business. The Godfather, Michel Corleone, is an old man. His wife, Kay, divorced him a long time ago because she deeply resented his involvement with the mafia and the fact that he ordered his own brother's assassination. His only consolation is his beautiful daughter, Mary, who seems to adore her father no matter what. Michel cares a lot about Mary and he decides to give up his illegal businesses, the casinos and the mafia involvement, and to secure some new, legal ventures for his family.
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He decides to take over International Immobiliare, a huge real estate European business that partially belongs to the Vatican and the Catholic Church. The Godfather thinks that he can secure the deal by offering a hundred million dollar donation to the Catholic Church and by receiving an honorary award directly from the Pope to prove his respectability and his good intentions. Michel invites his whole family to the ceremony and he throws a huge party in honor of his new found respectability.
The party is interrupted by the arrival of Vincent Mancini, Michel's nephew, and by the unwanted interference of an old business partner called Joey Zasa. During the party, Kay tries to mediate between Michel and his son Anthony. Anthony wants to drop out of law school and pursue a career in music and Michel forbids him to do so. Anthony doesn't seem to care very much about his father's opinion about music and musicians and Michel must accept defeat and let his son have his way. The Godfather must also intervene between Joey Zasa and Vincent Mancini and he decides to take Vincent under his wing and show him how to behave and how to conduct proper business. Vincent is fascinated by Mary's beauty and they start an innocent flirt which stops abruptly when Vincent finds out that Mary is his cousin.
Vincent goes home after the party. Some masked men break into his house in the middle of the night and they try to kill him and his date. Vincent has a temper and he shoots them all after finding that they were Joey Zasa's messengers. He immediately seeks The Godfather's advice but he is not satisfied with the answer.
Michel goes to Rome to negotiate the terms of his taking over the Vatican's shares of the International Immobiliare just to find out that there are quite a number of people who resent him and who will do everything in their power to stop the transaction. Don Altobello, an old partner and family relative, announces Michel that the whole family wants a share of his new business and the fact that they are quite upset about being left out of his new venture with the Vatican. Michel calls out a meeting and he announces that he intends to sever all his ties with the families and with the mafia and that he intends to go on by himself in his new and legal businesses.
There is a sudden attack and all the family members, old mafia heads and partners are gunned down and killed. Vincent grabs Michel and they barely escape the carnage. Michel goes home, he is taken ill and he receives immediate medical attention. He finds out that he has diabetes and he remains in the hospital for a while. Kay and Anthony visit Michel in the hospital and they invite him to Palermo. Anthony is about to have his debut in an Italian opera, Cavaleria Rusticana, and he wants his whole family to be by his side.
Vincent and Mary must hide the fact that they are in love because they are afraid that the family won't approve of their relationship. In the mean time, Vincent organizes an ambush and he kills Joey Zasa. He thinks that the man was responsible for the killing of the family partners.
The Godfather, his friends, partners and the whole family goes to Italy. Michel tries again to secure the deal with the Vatican but he is unsuccessful. He starts digging for answers and he meets some old family friends who are more than happy to help him. Michel suspects that Don Altobello is betraying him and he sends Vincent to spy on him and to find out what is he up to. Mary confesses to her father that she loves Vincent but he tells her that he forbids the relationship. Don Altobello hires some Sicilian assassins to kill Michel and Kay arrives in Palermo to assist at her son's musical debut. The family reunites and Michel is happy to show them around his beloved Sicily.
Michel tries to reconnect with his ex-wife and he takes her on a tour of the island. He tries to explain to her the motives for all the Sicilian tragedy and to make her understand that he is not a bad guy but that in fact he is only doing his duty as the head of the family. Key seems to understand him until someone announces that one of the family friends, Don Tomassino, was killed in his own car by some Sicilian assassins.
The Pope dies and a new cardinal takes his place as the new head of the church. The new Pope is prone to be fair and he has the intention to help Michel secure his deal with the Church.
Michel understands that he is the target of some highly trained Sicilian assassins and he decides to step down as Godfather and to let Vincent take his place. Vincent Corleone is the new Godfather and he must further protect his family. He accepts the fact that he cannot have Mary and be the Godfather and he is sad.
The whole family goes to the opera to see Anthony's magnificent debut. Michel's sister offers Don Altobello a box filled with his favorite dessert. He eats all the cakes during the show and he dies. The new Pope is poisoned and Vincent tries to keep Michel and the family safe. The assassins arrive at the opera and they take their places.
Vincent can't discover the assassins on time and they shoot Michel and kill Mary as they leave the opera house. Michel can't believe that his beloved daughter is dead. He screams and he seems to go mad.
The movie ends by showing a very old and extremely lonely Michel dying in a deserted yard in Italy. There is no around and Michel falls from his chair and dies.
Best part of story, including ending:
The story has a focus on family and feelings. I liked it because I, at least partially, understood Michel's struggles to become a better father for his children. He tried to explain to Key the difficult choices that he had to make and you can't stop feeling sorry for him and for his difficult position. The last scene of the movie is an extremely sad one because it seems that the man didn't succeed in winning back his family. In fact, he lost everything in his last desperate attempt to win back his loved ones.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene is the one where Mary dances with her father at the party. She is very beautiful and Michel loves her very, very much. The scene happens in the beginning of the movie and it is like a bad premonition of the drama about to unfold.
Opinion about the main character:
I can't say I like Michel. I just try to understand him and walk a little bit in his shoes. It doesn't take much to understand how difficult it must be to run an illegal, cruel business and at the same time to try and remain a warm, good, loving husband for your family.
This movie picks up where part II left off. Andy Garcia is introduced as James Kahn's illegimate son and has a burning desire to take over the family business.. and his cousin, Mary, Michael Corleone's daughter.
