How significant is genre to understand your chosen films?

How significant is genre to understand your chosen films?

City of God is 100% a crime film, it ticks all the boxes and passes all the tests. Because it is a crime film, the film cannot be considered realistic. The director has a framework to work in, a set of rules which limit his creativity. Whereas La Haine simply can’t be labelled as a crime film, maybe it’s a French social realist film? Or a hybrid. Because of it not being a Crime film, the director Kassovitz has a lot more freedom, and straight away has the ability to create a realistic film, with a variety of themes and conventions instead of being limited to money, drugs and mass shootouts.

City of God uses genre to create a film that is purely entertainment over education. It uses ‘real’ characters to add the element for value, it is a superficial view of reality, and yes, Lil Ze is real, but he is just a convenient monster, he is not a victim you feel sorry for.

City of God highlights the life of a crime figure in the form of Lil Ze, it is set over 30 years, and this creates a reel of the ‘best bits’ from Lil Ze’s life, literally highlighting him and his rise and fall. We see the cycle of crime, from childhood, to adult, to death. Rather than being so basic in its crime genre, La Haine has more leg room in creating its messages. Instead of highlighting crime and fighting. We mostly see one gun, that Vinz has, and it gives him power, and throughout out the whole film, we see one gun shot. How can it be considered a crime film, if the crime is so low level like selling drugs? La Haine is less about witnessing crime and highlighting the life of crime. It has crime, in the form of low level and a necessity to survive the life in the projects. The film is more about having a deeper message, something that is unique to France. It is about highlighting the undercurrent of French society, a racist society. The film is just a film, but if you research the contextual issues, you will see that it is in no way exaggerated. The racism is real, the hatred and fear of police is real, and after watching the Skinhead Hunters. The fear of skinheads are real.