Tony Morrison is a complex character in terms of casting, acting, costume, morality, and motivation. The first thing I noticed is that they had an Italian actor playing a Cuban character. While I think Al Pacino is a phenomenal actor, I think this casting choice really could have an impact on the representation, perception, and consumption of Latin America and Latin Americans. I did notice some inconsistencies with his accent, as someone who has studied Spanish linguistics, specifically in the Cuban dialect, which gave away his true identity. In terms of costuming, I found the Hawaiian shirt to be an interesting motif. Tony shows up to the United States in a Hawaiian shirt and that costuming changes to a suit as he grows in power and becomes more established in the United States. We see the Hawaiian shirt again after Tony kills Frank and hires Ernie, one of Frank's old employees. Ernie wears the Hawaiian shirt in the montage as his first outfit working for Tony, that shirt is then accompanied by a suit jacket in the next clip, and finally he also transitions to a full suit. The Hawaiian shirt is usually associated with tourists, people who are outsiders, and people who do not belong or will only be somewhere temporarily. Once Tony becomes more "Americanized" he begins wearing suits. Once Ernie becomes more a part of Tony's organization, he also transitions to a suit.
The introduction of the movie is the only footage that isn't staged. It is actual footage of Cuban's coming to the United States and their process of being processed to enter the country. This is a huge opposition to the rest of the movie which is scripted and organized to fit a certain message and goal. The footage combined with the movie can be confusing for viewers who do not know much about Latin America in general, because they are associating truth with fiction. It does, however, set the movie up with historical background of Castro allowing people to come to the U.S., thousands with criminal records.
The shooting and Octavio the clown was indeed a bizarre scene. I interpreted this footage as comparing Tony to a clown, as the goal was to kill Tony, and Octavio lost his life instead. Octavio is also supposed to represent a "Venezuelan from the jungle" and he doesn't speak the whole time. This fact intrigued me, as this means he is only represented by his actions and his physical characteristics, which were chosen by other people in a performance setting. He is also representing a Latin American population of the rich who are uncivilized and who do nothing but sit on their money all day.
The montage is a fast forward of Tony's success. The entire time, everyone is smiling, except for sone character, the American banker. The montage is a quick view of "American success" and "the American dream." While the money they earned is illegal, they have enough money to bank and are actually using the bank to wash their money to try to make it seem legitimate. There are several company openings as well, for Tony and for Gina. I have already mentioned the transition between the Hawaiian shirt in this montage, which I find important to the movie as a whole.
I find it important to also mention the juxtaposition between Tony and his mother. His mother represents a hardworking immigrant class who is crime-free, while Tony represents corruption and violence. Tony's mother is the small contribution to the consumption of this movie that shows the genuine legitimacy of Cuban immigrants.
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