Symbolism

I was watching the ending of GF3 on spike last night and I noticed that when Mary got shot Connie put her shawl on her head and the opera singer did the same thing. Does this mean anything?

not sure but it might be a sign of respect.

Probably a sign of respect towards GOD. A tragedy had just taken place and the crying and praying began so therefore the ladies covered thier heads out of respect towards GOD because they were about to cry out and pray to God for mercy on Mary's soul. This is what I think was taking place.


Don Cardi

I never made that connection. Thanks

In Sicily, women wear black almost permanently whenever a close relative dies. The real symbolism in that scene is the fact that all the killing occurred while they were watching "Cavalleria Rusticana," which is set in Sicily and centers on love, lust, betrayal, revenge and murder--just like much of the Trilogy. In the last scene, Turriddu, the "hero" of the opera, is killed in a knife fight to settle a matter of honor. You don't see the fight: what you do see is a woman shrieking, "Turriddu has been killed." As soon as Turriddu's mother and ex-lover (whom you do see) hear the shriek, they put on the black shawls. Connie did likewise because, just at that moment, her own "relative," Altobello (who was her godfather), keeled over from the poisoned cannoli.

Don't disagree with you for a minute Turnbull. I remember growing up in a Catholic household in Ireland in the 60's and 70's and in those days the tradition was that women did not pray without their head being covered. I remember at Mass women wearing those little black shawls which I believe were called "mantillas". The practice died out in the early to mid 70's.

I remember that women always had to attend church with their heads covered (for men it was the opposite; they always removed their hats when entering church). I remember that in the summer, when you didn't have a hat, we used handkerchiefs.

Cavalleria Rusticanna is a wonderful opera. The music from it was used by Scorcese in Raging Bull. It is very symbolic and very Sicilian. My mother and I always laugh and say that it's our favorite because it's one of the few operas in which the man dies instead of the woman.

I agree with all of the above.. the hooded female impression that I got from Connie seemed to be a sort of 'holy look', like she was praying for Mary's soul.

i love that song,its so emotional and beutiful and thats coming from a man