URBAN STORIES

Power, Poverty & Conflict

Section A

URBAN STORIESCommon Issues:

• A culture dominated by a more powerful ideology.

• A portrait of a culture in a particular place at crucial time of development.

• An inability for sustained romantic alliances due to social conditions and upbringing.

URBAN STORIESCommon Issues:

• A feeling of social or cultural insignificance.

• A descent into violence, drug use, crime, alcoholism or lethargy.

• Conflicts arising as a result of social and/or cultural environments.

• Societies lacking in identity due to Western Globalisation

URBAN STORIESContext of time and place:

Production

Film

Representation of the city:

The city as a character in itself

Influence of the urban environment on the characters

Representation of Power:

Physical / Authority / Power / Gender / Social Class

Money / Family

Representation of Poverty:

Material / Emotional / Education / Opportunity

Representation of Conflict:

Physical / Psychological (of the mind!) / Emotional /

Material / Social & Cultural / Family & relationships

La Haine Contexts

La Haine (1995) is set in the 1990s and the protagonists live in ‘les banlieues’ (housing estates) on the outskirts of Paris. It also deals with police brutality, racism and civil unrest. It opens with immediate context: real footage of the riots that regularly took place between youths and police between 1986 and 1996 (and were continuing during filming). The director, Mathieu Kassovitz, has often stated that he was inspired to write the film when he heard the story of: a young Zairian, Makome M’Bowole [who] was shot in 1993. He was killed at point blank range while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator.

Representations - Male

Young men from ethnic minorities are the main social group represented in the film. La Haine young ethnic male protagonists. The American ‘hood’ film sub-genre often has a character that is trying to reject a life of crime and escape the trappings of the ‘hood’ in which he lives.

Hubert conforms to this archetype, and rejects crime as a way of life. He tries to fight against taking violence as a means to integrate into society and earn a living (Poverty). His friends Vinz & Said take different approaches to their social situation (Conflict). The film can be seen as debate about the way to deal with issues above and beyond their control (Power).

Hubert rejects the rioting of the other youths on his estate. He runs a gym that he worked hard to get a grant for, and promotes boxing as a sport for young people to get involved in. The audience first meets him in the ruined gym after the rioters have trashed and burnt it in the previous night’s riots. The film ends with Hubert sucked in to potentially committing the murder of a police officer (or being murdered himself) as retaliation for the shooting of his friend. Characters who try to escape the ghetto life are often stopped from doing so by circumstances out of their control – or even by death (something explored in other Urban Stories).

Task - Select: 1 or 2 Scenes

• Respond to the question• Write your response on your blogs• Include screen grabs• Include textual/cinematic techniques• Include contextual knowledge• Debate/Discuss Social Issues

(Personal Response)

Approach to analysis/discussion

POINT: Make a point that directly answers the question (regarding a key social issue).

EXAMPLE: Refer in detail to a scene that re-enforces that central issue (be specific & technically detailed).

EXPLAIN: Discuss/debate the key theme &/or issues raised within the scene and the whole film, as well as how it relates to the Urban Stories topic and its wider context (give your own views also).

URBAN STORIES

5. How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? [35]

Level 4

• A sound appreciation of the films studied with an ability to make detailed and close reference to telling and relevant film techniques in the context of telling “urban stories”

• A detailed and sophisticated knowledge and understanding of what is distinctive in the films studied – particularly in their deployment of specific film techniques

• An ability to argue for the particular and notable impact made by specific techniques within the overall impact of films - by reference to film detail

• (The very best candidates) may suggest that other factors besides film technique are of as great or greater significance, for example performance.

Urban Stories

RepresentationContexts

Audio-visual form as creative expression

Social, Cultural & Political Power, Poverty & Conflict

3 X

Scene Analysis for

each film

= 17.5 marks

AO1 – Demonstrate knowledge & understanding of film as an audio-visual form of creative expression, together with its contexts of production and reception

Camera/LightingMise-en-scene/Sound

Section A:

Meanings?

Responses?Power, Poverty & Conflict

Social/Cultural/Political

= 17.5 marks

AO2 – Apply knowledge & understanding of common critical approaches as well as the responses that are created

Characters/CRASH

Mise-en-scene/Sound

Camera/Lighting

‘A’ Grade Exam

Response

Total = 35 marks

CONTENT

Films:

‘La Haine’

(France)

‘City of God’

(Brazil)

‘Chungking Express’

(Hong Kong)

‘Princesses’

(Spain)