SSC Film Studies

Section A

6. How far should the films you have studied for this topic be seen in relation to their particular time and place?

The films that I have studied for this topic are La Haine and City of God. La Haine is a world cinema film made in France containing a realistic representation of Paris and its social issues whereas City of God is a mainstream Hollywood film which glamorises the problems within the favelas at the time in which the film is set.

The opening of La Haine shows us real footage of the French riots which were taking place during the early 90s due to racism and the treatment of ethnic minorities in France. The first shot of La Haine makes the audience view the police as antagonists as we see a shot from behind one citizen looking over at a whole army of armed police officers all in the same uniforms. This puts the audience behind the protagonist straight away as we are also looking over at the army of police therefore we see the police as brutal and immediately view them as antagonists. This puts us into the position of the citizens and helps the audience to understand how the citizens living in the projects felt towards the police and society. The mise-en-scene in this opening sequence shows Paris as a war zone and challenges our expectations as, from watching mainstream films, we are used to seeing Paris introduced as a very cultural and beautiful city, for example in the opening of Amelie. In La Haine’s opening sequence, we also see a firm bomb exploding which reflects Hubert’s apocalyptic view of the world and shows how the young people of the projects in Paris have a very negative world view. This montage of actual riot footage as the opening sequence grounds the film in reality and creates a ‘realist framework’ that the film takes place within and helps to set a realistic idea of the time and place that the film is set in.

City of God’s opening shows us an incomplete project with positive intentions where we see children running around in a large open space from a wide shot. This shot shows clean land with a sense of community and optimism under a golden high key light. The only crime we see in this opening sequence is crime with reason and small crimes such as theft. This opening sequence tells us that this project started off with positive intentions whereas in La Haine we are taken straight to the negativity of Las Banlieues where we presume the shanty towns were purposely built for the non-French citizens to be separated from the French living further into the centre of Paris. From this, I think that La Haine should be seen more in relation to its particular time and place than City of God as we are given background knowledge in the opening of City of God however La Haine is hard to understand if the audience are not French or have no prior knowledge of the French riots or projects in Paris.

A common convention for mainstream crime films is the glorification of the rise and fall of a particular criminal, this is evident in City of God as we watch Lil Ze gradually gain power as his obsession with killing grows and his drug company becomes richer.  We then see the fall of Lil Ze when the crime has spread across the favelas and the runts kill him. This crime film convention does not occur in La Haine, instead we never see the trio rise therefore they are never able to fall, this shows that they have never been of importance in their society and have never held any sort of power over the police or the French citizens. From this, it is clear that City of God is more about gang wars therefore the time and place is not so important, whereas La Haine constantly comments on social issues and the ways in which the non-French people living in the projects of Paris felt during the riots.

Another convention used in crime films is exotic locales which often add an element of adventure and wealth. In City of God, we see this in the club scene where the people of the favelas are partying and dancing showing the benefits of crime and power in a poverty stricken area. On the other hand, La Haine shows the centre of Paris as a dangerous place for the trio rather than an exotic and exciting place, this helps us to view Paris from a non-French citizen’s point of view and really makes the audience think about the location of the film as they are used to seeing this place represented as romantic.

Both City of God and La Haine adopt a circular narrative to comment upon social issues in their countries. The director of La Haine uses a circular narrative to comment upon issues in French society as it shows how the “non-French” citizens are trapped within this criminal society. This film ends with a gun sound however it isn’t clear whether it was Hurbert or the police officer who was killed therefore this film has no resolution as there is no resolution for the people living in the projects as the riots never change how the “non-French” are viewed or treated. For City of God, this type of narrative is used to portray the cycle of violence within the favelas and isn’t used to comment upon the social issues in the time or place of the film’s setting therefore we know that La Haine should be seen more in relation to its time and place than City of God.

Furthermore, La Haine has a continuous, linear narrative which contributes to its realism, whereas City of God has a disrupted non-linear narrative as it is more of a representation of the time and place than La Haine is. Moreover, La Haine is set over 24 hours to show these things happen on a daily basis, they are not rare occasions, although City of God is set over 15-20 years as it shows a full cycle of violence and a full decline of the City of God. From this, it is clear that La Haine has a much more specific time in which the film is set which is important as it helps to put across a message about the social issues in Paris at this time.

La Haine ends with the death of Said and with the death of either Hubert or the police officer showing the non-French citizens losing their conflict against the police, whereas the City of God ends with Rocket escaping the favelas and gaining a career. Although, the characters of both films want to escape their shanty towns, it is only the City of God character that manages to do so showing that La Haine is a more realistic representation of Paris and its social issues at the time whereas City of God is more about the story of Rocket and his life in the favelas over the years.

In conclusion, both films use narrative and conventions to comment upon power, poverty and conflict in their countries however La Haine is a much more realistic representation of this therefore more attention needs to be paid to the time and location of La Haine in comparison to City of God.