FM4 - Urban Stories: City of God/La Haine

Student Work:

Short Responses to Exam Questions (Note: Full responses will have to be more detailed)

Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studies for this topic.

1. Drugs

2. Escape/trapped

3. Boredom

4. Criminality

5. Inequality

6. Moral values/role models

The issue of poverty is a major theme in the Urban films we have studied as it is conveyed in a very negative way through the narrative and technical features of the films. In 'La Haine' the entire film is shot in black and white to reflect both the bleak, cold and boring surroundings where the characters live and also suggest the black and white sense of morals and conflicts between social groups that arises as a consequence of poverty e.g. the youth and the police. 'City of God' however employs a more colourful pallet of browns, greens and ambers to show the more sinister side of Urban existence and to reflect the poor living conditions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

The narratives depict the issue of poverty in a negative way due to where the characters live, how they behave and has relevance to their social class as in 'La Haine'. Simply revolving the action around the three characters, during a 24 hour time frame, were they are often shown sitting around doing nothing, as a ticking clock constantly marks time, suggests that they have nothing to do. Letting time pass by due to their impoverished situation allows you to consider that they don’t have jobs or any prospects so there isn’t actually anything they can do. This causes them to become disconnected from society and results in the characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour. In 'City of God' the narrative shows both the roots and the effects of poverty as the story begins in the 1960’s when the City of God was first built to events in the 70's/80's. The earliest events are shot with bright colours in a very open environment, suggesting freedom, whereas 2 decades later, with a steady decline, the city's descent into poverty is visualised in much darker tones and colours as the characters become more violent and turn to crime and drugs. The film could almost be said to have its colour drain away as the city becomes more built up. As the light retreats there is an encroaching feeling of being trapped, which clearly depicts how the city has sunk into an impoverished state where the only prospect for young children is to become drug runners and gangsters in the favelas.

Throughout ‘City of God’ and 'La Haine' poverty is both shown with similarities and differences. Poverty is a constant reminder of why the characters act and behave the way they do. During both films brotherhood is shown to illuminate the difficulties that the characters go through. It seems that the boys have been brought up as brothers, even though they are not related. Through poverty communities have to work together to survive, these boys are doing just that, they don’t necessarily have the support of a strong family environment so they look elsewhere for that sense of brotherhood and belonging.

Violence is always a theme that runs through Urban Stories; this can be due to many things. In 'City of God' the boys don’t appear to have the type of education needed to reinforce the notion that violence is not always the answer. In 'La Haine' the youths ignore their education and choose to follow more unrealistic role models transmitted through dominant forms of mass media such as US cinema and rap music.

In 'La Haine' we see Vince copying De Niro's Travis Bickle character from 'Taxi Driver' as he mimics his actions in the mirror. Vince only believes what he is being shown as he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else. This is a common way of showing how poverty has an effect on people. Due to the fact that Vince hasn’t been able to experiment with his taste and interests he has been fed an unrealistic view of violence believing this is how ordinary life is, whereas people living out of poverty would be able to read much deeper into the films he watches and see that there is much more to life.

'City Of God' shows how a city can be separated by wealth and status, with this we see how authority is viewed differently in contrasting communities’. In the slums we see people living in fear, looking up to violent authority figures who try to protect them. Yet in the wealthier districts we not only see how balanced a 'normal' lifestyle is but also see how corruption in authority leads us to question what is right?

Throughout the films ‘La Haine’ and ‘City Of God’ poverty is presented in a negative manner. ‘City Of God’ takes place in the slums of Rio de Janeiro (the rich areas of the region are never shown in the film, adding to the sense of poverty that is conveyed, as we only see the points of view from the inhabitants of the slums) and portrays the area as being filled with poverty. Because of this, many of the individuals have resorted to crime to get by in life, showing the effects of poverty in that society. The film’s events take place between the end of the sixties to the beginning of the eighties, with much of the narrative delving into violence and drugs, showing how poverty leads to this behavior, which then leads to poverty, creating a vicious circle that is impossible to escape. This is also shown at the end of the film, where Li’l Ze is killed by ‘the runts’ who then take over as one of the main gangs.

Poverty is also portrayed in a negative manner in ‘La Haine’. This film focuses on three friends who are all ethnic minorities who live in the French equivalent of slums. However, unlike ‘City Of God’, this film takes place in a single day instead of 20 years. Although the characters don’t resort to crime in the film (most of the time we see the characters doing nothing), their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown. For example, Vinz sees himself as a gangster, and is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies after being put in a coma after a riot, and is seen multiple times fantasizing his vengeance. However, the gun is never fired once in the film, and Vinz is killed at the end (so far so good); i.e. all seems to be going relatively well until Vinz is killed. The end lines state “so far, so good”, in the sense that it seems to be going good until Vinz is killed, which could be a metaphor for the society’s decent into poverty through violence and hostility.