All good points, and all agreed.

I don't want to paint Mama with broad strokes and say that she's "clueless" about everything. There were some things she knew full well; but then there were also other things about which she had no idea, or chose not to believe.

She was fully aware that Connie was ignoring her children, and -- points for Mama -- she spoke up about it. But when Michael came to her asking what Vito thought deep in his heart, she has no answer for him -- because she didn't know what her husband's deepest thoughts were. And when Michael expresses his worries about losing his family, she has no idea what he's talking about.

When she tells Connie that she's wrong about Michael killing Carlo, it's as if Mama is latching on to some idealized version of her "good boy" who, in his overachieving way, has made Vito's business legitimate over night. I can see her knowing what Sonny was into; he was the oldest, the successor-in-waiting. But I can also see her not knowing -- or choosing not to know -- what her youngest son, Michael, is into.

In literature (and film, but I can't think of a film example right now ), the strong, extraordinary, and remarkable people are the ones who did what was unheard of for the times by people of their station. In Far From The Madding Crowd, Bathsheba rode her horse unaccompanied, spoke openly to men, and chose to run her farm on her own. In Jane Eyre, Jane spoke back to her guardian about the horrible way orphan children were treated.

Mama was not an extraordinary woman; she was ordinary and typical of her time, and that's fine. I'm sure she was also a strong woman in her own way, raising and disciplining four children and running a household. But a lot of turn-of-the-century mothers did this without the extra (and guaranteed) income that comes from being married to a mafioso.

So for her to merit being called wise, or smart, or savvy, or direct, or honest, I think she would have had to show a dash of extraordinariness like Bathsheba or Jane Eyre, even if it was only to tell Carlo that she didn't appreciate his speaking to Connie like that at the dinner table.