SSC Film Studies

The narrative and mise-en-scene of both City of God and La Haine present a realistic view of the way people live in these places, whether in Brazil’s slums of France’s Les Banlieues.

The opening scenes show this in both films. In La Haine, we see that the opening shows real archive footage of the previous riots in Paris. It also has a soundtrack over it which is a Bob Marley song called “Burnin’ and Lootin’ .” This gives us an indication of what the films issues are about and how people felt at the time the riots were taking place. The real footage then flows into a realistic news report about someone who was beaten badly in police custody. This is based on real life events which happened with a boy named Makome M’Bowle who was tied to a radiator with a gun forced into his head by the policeman until it eventually went off and shot the boy. The film shows to tackle real issues which shows that the film falls under the genre of the social realist film. This means that the audience can relate to the issues that are being portrayed within the film and somehow have a connection to them.

The film is shot in a realistic way to make it feel as if it is a documentary.  We follow a trio of characters in this film roughly over a 24 hour period. It is like it is filmed in mini episodes each time the time indicator comes on screen. The film is also in a linear format. This fits in with the genre it is placed in and also to give a feel as if we are there and we are witnessing it as the characters are witnessing it also.  Also we are also shown how are characters are living and we get their point of view throughout the whole of the film. We see how they respond to people and how people respond to them and the things they have to go through from confrontations with the police to being shunned and ignored by society in Paris.

The film does not have an ending which indicates that the violence and riots will go on forever and will be a reoccurring thing. The thing will go full circle and start again. It also fits in with the social realist genre that films in the genre do not have a resolution to them but even though they have ended, they continue as they are supposed to represent real life.

City of God’s opening sequence is more stylised and feels more unrealistic to La Haine. For the first few minutes we don’t have an indication on how the film is going to unfold as all we see is a chicken getting chased around the streets of the Favela for a few minutes. The film is also in a non-linear structure as we see later in the film, the scene at the beginning is actually more closer to the end. From that scene we then go back around 20 years to the early 1960’s then the story follows on through 2 decades until we are shown the scene again. The scene at the start is to introduce us to our main character and narrator Rocket.

The film never focuses on the point of view from any authority figures like the police. It only represents the point of view from the gangs and members of the Favela. This shows that the film is biased as we can’t see the police’s point of view and so we align more with Rocket and the other characters within the film.

 

There are a few unrealistic elements within both films. One example can be seen in La Haine. There is the fact that Vinz, Said and Hubert all couldn’t be friends due to the difficulties faced with their different backgrounds and ethnicities.

 In City of God the violence in the Favela is shown realistic. It shows that in real life there is la lot of violence in Rio and it is shown in this film as it shows that little kids are getting their hands on guns from the gangs who are dealing drugs. This is another realistic thing that happens within the Favelas.

 

Poverty can be seen to an extent in City of God. It shows that it is run down and that people look poor but then there is the fact that when people get money, they buy designer clothing instead of getting something to eat.

This is seen in La Haine for example that poverty is a big issue in the Projects. We see that the women in the house are repairing their clothes as they may not have enough money to buy anynmore and that they are the only clothes they have got. It also shows how hard they are hit by not having a job as they have no money. This is seen when Said tries to buy a hot dog. He has to resort to stealing it as he hasn’t got enough money to buy one. La Haine portrayes this more realistically than City of God. The latter is more of a stylised film meant to be made for the cimema and entertainment whereas La Haine is more realistic in the themes and what people go through everyday in their lives.