The God Father Clever Baptism Editing

The editing in the God father Baptism scene is by far one of the best in all of film history, it perfectly utilizes parallel editing in a great way, which to this day is copied and parodied alot.
The scene, like a many other scenes in the movie, uses montage editing that cut in and out of the baptism of a baby boy (Michael's nephew) which is a calm, religious and holy moment to a violent and sinful moments of murder.
The editing in this scene is called parallel editing, where to scenes are put next to each other in order to create new meaning. It is very effectively used in this scene, as it reveals the true nature of Michael through the juxtaposition that is caused by having the audience witness the murders that he ordered while he claims to renounce “Satan…. and all his works” .
This use of the scene suggests that Michael hasn’t really changed, without the intercutting parallel cuts the audience might suspect that Michael might have actually has.

The edits start to also become more faster which is very effective as this increase in speed builds the audiences expectation of something dire happening and also further helps to solidify the suggestion made by the juxtaposition, that Michael has not really changed and is still as cruel as before.
The scene is also effective in how it utilizes the sound of the church organ and the priest speaking. The organ and the priest speaking seems to increase in tempo and volume as the murders are happening which builds the audiences tension and anticipation, the priest voices seem to be at his loudest when he asks Michael if he renounces “Satan…. and all his works”, which he answers yes before the scene cutting to see someone being murdered to show the viewer he is lying.
The baptism seems almost symbolic for Michael being christened as the new crime boss of the Corleone family. The way it is intercut with the murder and certain event of the baptism seem to represent Michael's own baptism into the family taking place at the same time.
The parallel editing splits holy and unholy traits of Michael’s personality. It express one part of him wants to be good and holy but his life’s work inhibits him from doing so, he tries to live a good life but he also is drawn into the cruelty of the gangster lifestyle.