Power, Poverty and Conflict in City of God and La Haine

The two films we studied for this topic show both subtle and obvious examples of power, poverty and conflict throughout in order to accurately portray a distance between different groups in society.

The first film was La Haine, a French film set in the projects and Paris City Centre which firstly explores the theme of Poverty for the French youth in the film. The film starts with a music montage of actual riot footage underneath Bob Marleys 'Burnin n Lootin', a song about rioting in the Jamaican slums; this element of realism from the offset prepares the audience for a film not based around entertainment or fiction but rather social and political issues in France at that time being explored through film. The film itself is in black and white throughout which casts a dull hue over the film and makes their living situation seem entirely more bleak than it is.
The first third of the film does a good job at subtly showing elements of poverty such as being short changed in the grocery store and selling drugs on the street. The characters aren't happy in their situations and acknowledge their dislike at certain points which reminds the audience that unlike City of God, the characters aren't content living in slums and aim to 'get out'.
The second half of the film is set mainly in Paris where our main characters attempt to recollect drug money. There is an incredibly obvious juxtaposition between our three main characters and  the people of France and it is shown through their lack of communication skills with the other Middle class and upper class French.

The second film we studied for Poverty was City of God, a Brazilian film set in Rio Slums and Favellas. This film shows a much more universally recognised portrayal of poverty in all three sections that the film is split up into. The first third of the film is set in a small, poor but mostly peaceful village in which the extent of crime is the 'Tender Trio', aka three mischievous but lovable rogues who steal gas off the back of trucks and rob hotels for spare money. However peaceful the first third of the film seems to be, especially in contrast to the other two thirds, the poverty and moral compromisations cannot be ignored and this only becomes more relevant when L'il Dice begins his homicidal reign and the once peaceful village gets quickly changed into vibrant but deadly slums of the 1970's. Poverty is evident throughout this film especially when it comes to 'the Runts' a group of children under 10 who run ramped, carry guns and cause trouble which is honestly one of the most shocking things in the film carrying onto a scene much later on in the film when the newly proclaimed L'il Ze kills and injures two of the Runts. This comes as a wake up call to the audience and the film no longer seems like an action packed drug-crime film but rather a twisted insight into the effects and consequences of poverty ridden society.
Poverty in City of God goes side by side Power and Conflict as it seems to be the ultimate cause of both issues. Poverty is what initially forces these boys to make the decisions they made and live a life of drugs and crime which causes conflict between them and the state and reduces the chance of any long lasting change to the system happening. There are quite a few mini conflicts in City of God such as L'il Ze and Carrot, the police and the slums etc. all of which are not resolved by the end of the film as they should be but instead begin to grow again from more death, reinforcing the idea of a 'cycle of violence' in the film.

La Haine shows Power and Conflict in a similar way as it is mainly between the French government and police against the projects and its inhabitants. The films plot line itself is centred around the injust shooting and killing of a teenager from the projects and the film ends the same way, also commenting on the 'cycle of violence' in society and the lack of resolution adds to the realist aspect of the story. It gives us an insight into how both parties in the society see each other and expresses the beleif that the government can't allow these things to continue to happen and must stop it before the cycle begins again and it's too late.