on The Godfather, Don & Michael Corleone

Aside from always equivocating 'can' with "must" whenever it had something to do with his family, almost never himself, he was far too much more intelligent than everyone around him and didn't let his feeling direct his actions in personal matters; a bit of the Emperor Augustus temperment, really.

The point is that it's a tragic story because he was working so hard for what he wanted, and wanted it only for his broken image of relatives and 'family' (in the wider Sicilian sense), that it ends up killing his baby, getting him divorced and losing his daughter: The message of the Godfather films is not that you can end up ruining what you're trying hardest to preserve, even if you're brilliant and powerful; and, could scream real loud like Pacino (though I find this does help). The idea is more there are certain things in life you just can't always get, or have how you wish them, or that can not—maybe shouldn't—ever be put together. Crime and business, blood relatives and wider ideas of "familial"...such matters.—if not that they ought not be combined, perhaps that you should reflect on their difference as maintained, real illusion (rather than ruthless pragmatism aided by virtues privately)

It's not that Mr. Corleone, either he or the original Don, were personally incapable of managing what they got themselves and led others into; but many, maybe all, of the people they took along for the ride simply could not handle the lifestyle their vision creates (more personally tragic, the few that can are never the ones you'd want to be spending your time on): Either way, communal concerns require more than one man.