THIRD WORLD CINEMA- Films from countries with a history of oppression often depict poverty and exploitation.

- Reject Hollywood conventions- Present audiences with new ways of seeing their socio-political reality.

FILM STUDIES – URBAN STORIES REVISION

CITY OF GOD LA HAINE

POWERCity Of God gives an insight to how all the power within the Favelas is with the drug lords and for Meirelles hopes for change to be conveyed, he has aligned us strongly against most of them. For example: Lil Ze is unhappy about the “runts” stealing from the shops within the Favelas as this shows he has a lack of control over them. The power Lil Ze has over the population becomes very clear within this particular scene when he tells one of the older children in the group to shoot the younger child. As an audience we know that both these children are (to an extent) innocent and their age creates shock factor which could urge them to do something to stop this occurring in real life. A western/middle class Brazilian audience are not used to seeing events like this and Meirelles has included this scene to shock the audience into taking action. Power is shown to be that of the drug lords who create the conflict by killing anyone who will not listen to them. Even the police seem powerless to Lil Ze and are rarely seen in the Favela or save anyone. At the end of the film we also see Lil Ze making a deal/trade with the police after they catch him, they do no stop him and his power remains.

POWERIn La Haine, the power is however with the police which is shown by the violence they use against the poverty within the Banlieues and as Kassovitz has described the film himself as a “police hate film”, it is clear that his intentions were to show the audience the mistreatment the Banlieues face. As we find out that a police man has beaten an innocent man into a critical, near death state almost straight away when introduced to the characters, we are instantly aligned against the Banlieue police where they remain the bad group throughout the film. As the film starts, we also see the real footage of riots taking place within the Banlieues which are mainly filmed from the side of the people, not the police, against aligning us instantly with the people who seem powerless. Police brutality is shown particular in the scene where Hubert and Said are in the police station where the police are training a new member of the force to attack those in custody. This is far from what we recognise as police behaviour as the two are tied to chairs and helpless to what is happening to them. The mise-en-scene within the police station also helps set us further against them as an image of a nude woman has been pinned up to the wall behind them, giving the police and even slimier image. We are aligned throughout the scene from the viewpoint of the trainee police member who’s actions such as shuffling and cringing show he disagrees with what is happening. As we also disagree, we urge him to stand up and do something to stop it. As the scene drags on slowly we become more and more desperate for him to stop it but Kassovitz has cleverly used this character to represent the audience watching the film who he wishes to anger into making a change, similar to the techniques used in City Of God. As the character does nothing, we remain angry at the police officers even once the film has finished which leaves Kassovitz message imprinted on La Haines viewers.

CINEMATOGRAPHYCinematography and mise-en-scene work cleverly together within both films to convey the meaning and main messages the two films were made to represent. At the beginning of City Of God, we are introduced with fast paced, chaotic shots which use a variety of framing techniques. Within this framing, the light is always blocked showing straight away how the population of the Favelas have little hope of escaping. As for the fast pace, this shows the short, chaotic lives the people in the Favelas live, normally nor surpassing mid-twenties. However, when the film flashbacks to twenty years earlier the scene changed to a spacious, orange landscape s the calmness is emphasised by the lower paced shots. The colours within this scene are warm and welcoming but as the film progresses the colour gradually begins to drain. Orange is a colour which represents hope and as this colour drains, so does the hope and happiness of the population of the Favelas s their poverty increases (including Rocket who is the main character we are aligned with therefore care most for).

CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, both City of God and La Haine, provoke the audience through use of various micro techniques to

allow them to take the particular view of the characters they are aligned with and urges them to therefore create change.

FILM STUDIES – URBAN STORIES REVISION

THE EDUKATORS

HOW FAR SHOULD THE FILMS YOU HAVE STUDIED FOR THIS TOPIC BE SEEN IN RELATION TO THEIR PARTICULAR TIME AND PLACE?

C.O.G LA HAINE WORLD CUP 2014 BEING HELD IN BRAZIL – MANY PEOPLE ARE TAKING NOTICE OF FAVLEAS CURRENTLY – MANY PEOPLE ARE PETITIONING THAT MONEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN SPEND ON IMOPROVING FAVELAS NOT BUILDING A FOOTBALL STADIUM ETC.-------------------------------------------DIVIDE BETWEEN CLASSES – MADE AT THE TIME FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS OF BRAZIL TO OPEN THEIR EYES TO THE FAVELAS – EG, ROCKET AMAZED BY WARM SHOWER (REAL RESPONSE FROM ACTOR), PEOPLE FROM FAVELAS LABELLED CRIMINALS--------------------------------------------WE SEE HISTOICAL CONTEXT, WE WATCH THE FAVELAS WORSEN AS THEY GROW – CIRCULAR CRIMINAL MOVEMENT, ONE IS KILLED THE NEXT TAKES OVER (LIL ZE KILLS AS A CHILD, IS KILLED AS A CHILD)--------------------------------------------IN 2014 A NEWS STORY ABOUT A POLICE MAN SHOOTING A DRUG LORD IN THE FAVELA HAS JUST OCCURRED – MESSAGES IN THE FILM MORE PROMINENT--------------------------------------------BRAZIL IS A HOLIDAY LOCATION – FAVLEAS CONTRAST THIS – WE SEE NOTALGIC 60’S TURN INTO URBANISED, OVER POPUALTED FAVELAS --------------------------------------------ACTORS ACTUAL PEOPLE FROM FAVELAS, ON LOCATION FILMING – REPRESENT THE FAVELAS AND PEOPLE VERY ACCURATELY

BLACK AND WHITE (TIMELESS EFFECT)--------------------------------------------MADE AFTER FRENCH RIOTS – POLICE HATE FILM FROM BANLIEUES – OFTEN IN FRENCH NEWS, NEED FOR CHANGE--------------------------------------------STONG CLASS DIVIDE/RACISM IN 1995, STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM NOW--------------------------------------------ACTORS POPULATION FROM PROJECT, ON LOCATION FILMING – REPRESENTS LOCATION AND PEOPLE AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE--------------------------------------------RECENT EVENT IN ENGLAND – LONDON RIOTS WHERE A MAN WAS SHOT AND THE SAME EVENTS OCCURRED--------------------------------------------PROBLEMS IN PROJECTS ARE STILL RELAVENT TODAY--------------------------------------------PARIS IS THOUGHT OF AS THE CITY OF LOVE BUT IS CLEARLY THE OPPOSITE IN THIS FILM--------------------------------------------

BERLIN WALL – COUNTRY WITH A HISTORY OF STRONG DIVIDES, WALL ONLY DESTROYED 20 YEARS AGO – STILL RELEVANT TO SOCIAL/CAPITALIST/COMUNIST DEBATE--------------------------------------------HISTORICALY A LOCATION OF VIOLENCE AND MISJUSTICE – FITS WITH THEMES OF SILM------------------------------------------

FILM STUDIES – URBAN STORIES REVISION

CITY OF GOD LA HAINE

ART CINEMA- A group of films which deliberately offer a sense of difference to the Hollywood (mainstream) style/ conventions and from each other.- City of God uses both mainstream film conventions and challenges them: it has a fast paced narrative which is more mainstream than most alternative art films and in comparison to La Haine I would say it I far more mainstream due to these conventions pulling in a far broader audience. However the film does have a strong cultural identity covering the community of a Favela through times of change and progression including its drug culture and violence. It makes strong political points and justifies itself as a statement film rather than something made to just look pretty. The narrative within City Of God is far from the typical Hollywood structure with many flashbacks to the same event shown in a different light creating enigmas which the audience must piece together whereas a Hollywood film would lay this out more clearly in a less complex way. Generally, Hollywood films always have a happy ending whereas City Of God shows this isn’t true for real life situations. Overall the narrative itself is less Hollywood as it complex and carefully put together while its style is fast paced yet artistic with a variety of colours to set meanings making it suitable for art house cinema. However, due to its availability and fast paced narrative I believe this would also be suitable to a wider audience so would constrain the film to be art house only.

I have studied three films while looking into power, poverty and conflict within world cinema which are; City Of God (Meirelles, 2002, Brazil), La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995, France) and The Edukators (Weingartner, 2005, Germany).

CONTEXTWithin City of God and La Haine, the issues about the class system segregating poverty and higher classes is strongly highlighted. Meirelles created City Of God with the intention of middle class Brazilians watching it to open their eyes to what is happening to the lower classes whom they chose to disregard and to influence a change which could save the many innocent population of the favelas. This s shown to us through our alignment with the good character Rocket as he narrates the story of how the Favelas began to expand starting from his youth and progressing into his maturity. As we are aligned with such an innocent character, we as an audience can therefore feel pity for the many people in the Favela. When see characters who are relatable and being treat unfairly, this sparks anger which Mierelles wished his audience to feel to push them into taking action and stopping such events from occurring anymore.

CONTEXTKassovitz had similar intentions to Mierelles when producing La Haine as he describes the film himself as a “police hate film”. In La Haine, we are shown first the poverty which the population of the Banlieres live in and then when they enter Paris, the segregation and unfairness is strongly pointed out to us. During the art gallery scene, we see a strong contrast in Vinz, Sid and Hubert to the rest of the art gallery guests. Our alignment remains strongly with them as the awful artwork is mocked (it is a plastic bottle, emphasising its stupidity) while it is highlighted how this class of people have enough money to waste on such ridiculous things while, as we know from the scenes within the Banlieues, they barely have enough money to live. This distinguished contrast of rich vs. poor creates questions for the audience to ask themselves which, similar to Meirelles intentions for City Of God, should spark the well needed change to end segregation of the classes.

CINEMATOGRAPHYLa Haine is in black and white as, although it was filmed in colour, Kassovitz decided this would further create meaning. The black and white could show the strong divide between high and low classes as well as the poverty in the life of the character who we follow. The use of black and white also allows focus to remain on the attitudes rather that colours which emphasises the difference in behaviour between those in power and those in poverty. Overall Kassovitz could be trying to show how simple the solution is to the poverty in the Banlieues, how it is literally black and white and how easy the change could be if those with power would stop the conflict the poverty face.