Miracle At St. Anna

GCE A Level Film –FM4

9 June 2017

Adam Picton

5) ‘Deeper issues can get lost in films that offer such a strong cinematic experience.’ How far is this true of the films you have studied for this topic? (35)

My case studies for this topic all cover rather serious issues, and some choose to tackle that subject manner in a stylistic way. This can be either to amplify the subject matter itself or to simply make the film more cinematically pleasing.

In La Haine (1995, Matthieu Kassovitz), one of the most notable cinematic decisions was to shoot the entire film in black and white, or rather, to change it to monotone in post-production. I don’t believe this takes away from the impact of the issues in La Haine at all. In fact, it amplifies it to a great degree. It’s a metaphor that’s present in the entire movie. The world is in black and white. Everyone is segregated by colour and class and there’s no compromise. Kassovitz is also no stranger to cinematic references, such as the Speilberg shot that he used to disorientate the viewers when our poor protagonists were in a rich and foreign environment.

‘City Of God’ is also no stranger to cinematic flair, however, in contrast to La Haine, I believe City Of God does actually lose some impact. For example, the introduction sequences of every important character feels almost fantasized, and takes us out of the mindset that this is a true story. Even the story of ‘Knockout Ned’ that displays his quick moral descent from ‘no killing’ to ‘shoot any and all’ is done in a stylistically edited sequence. A story that shows the corruption and inner conflict of a good and earnest man is instead quite comedic in how casual and quick his mindset changes.

Finally, in ‘Rust and Bone’, I believe the cinematic experience does not take away from the deeper issues. While it may not be as flashy with it’s transitions as ‘City Of God’ or as meaningful with it’s colour palette as ‘La Haine’, it does still use it’s cinematics to amplify the issues. For example, most of the movie takes place in a holiday resort, in which the protagonist is extremely out of place. We see this in how out of focus it is and how harshly bright it looks. Even though he’s there, it seems on an entirely different plain of existence. It also shows how out of place he feels despite how powerful he is, much like the scene I mentioned earlier in La Haine.

In conclusion, I believe the statement is true to a large extent but not entirely. ‘City Of God’ is the variable and this is because if you watch the documentary that accompanies City Of God about life in the favelas, you’ll understand just how tragic it is and how much of that impact was lost in translation to the movie. Some of the issues are indeed lost due to it’s cinematic experience.

11) How far are particular cinematic techniques successful in influencing the spectator’s response? Refer in detail to the documentary films you have studied. (35)

Every form of media has a desired response of their audience and it’s up to the creators to position the audience to respond that way. This follows the audience reception theory which states there is a desired response, negotiational response and oppositional response. And I believe all my case studies use their cinematic techniques to create the desired response very well.

If we examine ‘A Brief History Of My Sexual Failures’, we can determine that nearly every technique is done to make the audience feel more connected to this unacceptable man and how funny it is that he’s actually like this. The deadpan colour tone, the handheld camera, the direct mode of address. It’s all purposefully crafted so the audience believes his socially inept persona. It’s obvious that it’s fabricated to some extent due to scenes like the Viagra scene (since if he really mixed that many drugs with alcohol, he’d be in real medical trouble), but the cinematic techniques make us nearly forget that and lead us to imagine how bizarre it’d be if someone like that really did exist.

The Imposter (Bart Layton, 2008) also attempts to create an air of realism but with a vastly different manner of cinematic techniques. It often follows the narrative of having a character narrate a scene while a recreation of that scene is shown. This immerses us and makes us feel as though we’re being told a story while a picture is painted for us. One could argue this is a narrative choice, but the cinematic techniques of recreating scenes that have tracking shots, close ups, slow-motion, etc., all increase tension, as well as aiding the audience in imagining exactly what Frederic Bourdin or whoever else was thinking when experiencing this unbelievable tale. The movies entire foal is to engage you and influence you to care about the mystery, and it does so by recreating direct memories with cinematic flair and techniques, be it a wide shot of a young child (supposedly) in the rain, alone, or a close up of an investigators realisation.

My final film of discussion is ‘Undefeated’ (2011) which is unique in how it chooses to engage and influence it’s audience. Where the previous movies attempted to immerse the audience through cinematic techniques, Undefeated seemed to use it’s lack of cinematic techniques. It still used close ups to show emotion and cut away’s to convey information (such as ‘Train’s’ situation with his SAT scores), but there are often scenes that feature mid-shot focusing and there’s barely any music or flashy editing used. It prefers to rely on the narrative and would sooner allow the interaction of two characters on screen to influence the audience than a cinematic display of film techniques.

In conclusion, ‘A Brief History…’ uses it’s techniques to create the desired response of laughs and bewilderment at such a wacky character in the real world. ‘The Imposter’ attempts to create the same effect of an unbelievable character/story in the real world, but through much more dramatic and serious methods to surprise and shock the audience. And finally, ‘Undefeated’ also attempts to create the effect of an unbelievable story in the real world but does so with archive footage and an overall reluctance to use cinematic techniques, influencing the audience to feel connected and sympathetic. An alternate viewpoint would be that this means Undefeated does not actually use it’s cinematic techniques successfully and could have done more to influence, however, the questions asks if the cinematic techniques were successful, not plentiful, and I believe all my case studies were successful in influencing the spectator’s response through cinematic techniques to a large extent.

17) ‘A film can be re-interpreted depending on the choice of critical approach.’ How far have you found this to be true when applying one or more critical approaches to your chosen film? (30)

Films are vast in their subject matter and no film gains the same response from every single critic and every single audience member, however, an audience’s own opinion can often be swayed by the critical approaches of others.

For example, Fight Club (1999, David Fincher) especially is a very controversial film among critics. It seems to be either love or hate, the latter of which applies to Freud who accuses the film of being an action movie masquerading as a social commentary. And as someone who would have originally disagreed, many of his interpretations swayed me. For example, the film is very obviously anti-consumerism, yet is the film not a product to be consumed itself? This is further strengthened by the A-list cast and huge budget. The film’s number one objective is to entertain and sell, and it’s not as if Fincher or any of the actors used this opportunity to send a message, then stop conforming to the very culture the film condemns. Fincher is still directing.

A theory that can be applied to combat Freud and his argument is the Auteur theory. This theory began in 1953 and was originally applied to director’s only, and even then only extremely serious artists, such as Alfred Hitchcock. It implies that a movie’s primary objective isn’t always to sell but to allow the director (or person of notable contribution) to express themselves and this theory also convinced me. David Fincher is no doubt an Auteur; his movies have a very distinct style. His tone-dull colour palettes and morbid themes are staples of all his works. Just look at ‘Se7en’ or ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’. There’s many comparisons to be made, and this proves Finches does have a style and isn’t simply directing to sell the ticket, but make art. He has no reason to masquerade. One of his very first jobs in the industry was on ‘Star Wars’ so he has never had much of a reason to appeal to a wide audience either, since his name already carries weight.

Finally, even a psychological approach can be taken to Fight Club. Many people have noted that the theory of the brain being split into three mindsets applies to Fight Club. Tyler is the ID part of the brain which simple seeks to satisfy every need and instinct that comes to mind immediately, regardless of consequence. Jack is the ego, which is the logical and aware part of the brain that takes social regulations and consequences into account before acting. And the movie is about Jack trying to become his Superego, which is the aspirational version of Jack he wishes to be. Throughout most of the movie, this seems to also be Tyler, however, this proves, depending on your critical approach, that a film can be re-interpreted in numerous ways.

In conclusion, I found the statement to be very true. Freud’s approach led me to consider if the film contradicts itself too much, whereas the Auteur theory led me to believe it’s far more complex that simply ‘an action movie’. And the psychological approach also shares comparisons with the Auteur theory. If we apply the approach to another of Fincher’s movies in ‘Se7en’, we see the same pattern. It seems as though Mills is the ID, his partner is the Ego and to a certain extent, perhaps Jon Doe is the Superego that Mills wants to be, as shown in the car scene where Jon implies Mills would enjoy being able to torture Jon, who he see’s as immoral. The comparison lies within this being yet another common occurrence among Fincher films. This could also be part of his signature style and nature as an Auteur. So as we can see, some of the approaches even conflict and cooperate with each other and many interpretations can be taken.