Suffragette

Suffragette is a 2015 British Historical period drama directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan. The film focuses on the start of the suffragette movement in the late 19^th to the early 20^th century and their fight for the right of women’s votes. When we went to view the movie it as a private screening at the BFI and was shown to us before the film was released which was an exciting opportunity, especially as after the screening the producer carried out a Q&A with the audience which helped me to understand about the production of films and the difficulties they encounter.

The film itself for me was a bit of a disappointment. With so much information circulating about the film I expected a spectacular piece of work especially as it featured big stars such as Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep but although the story behind the film is very inspiring I felt the narrative they followed in the film was certainly less inspiring. The film centred around a fictional character Maud Watts played by Carey Mulligan which for a protagonist was a disappointing thing to hear. I understand why they wanted to base it around one specific suffragette and the title tells us this but I still feel a fictional character was not the best choice. The other characters were based on real life suffragettes and their lives but the protagonists was not. I think this will prevent the audience from relating with her so much because she didn’t exist.

 Also the suffragette movement I felt did not get enough recognition because of the utter focus of this fictional character. The ending was also disheartening because I felt as if the already fictional character did not get an ending although the whole film was predominantly based around her.   Mulligan’s acting nevertheless was great and especially with the wide use of shots, particularly the close up’s to express their emotions captured my attention.

The use of shots the idea of using real life footage is what really made the film better. The footage was a great idea as they were able to show the audience what really happened and what it truly looked like at the time; the only parts of the film that made you feel like part of the movement. The (extreme) close up’s in particular are the shots that made you feel like part of the film. Some such as when Maud is being spoken to (often threatened) by her boss Norman Taylor (Geoff Bell) made me feel uncomfortable because they made him such a dislikeable character. I must admit this is the one strand of Maud’s storyline that although still fictional seemed the most real because what happened to her is still happening around the world today. At points in the film they used a handheld camera sometimes it looked to be exaggerated and a bit extreme but overall I think the use of this shot conveyed a message and theme of fear. As it was used when the police came to arrest the women and when Maud was running.

The scenes defiantly felt like they were based in 19^th century England. The costumes were fantastic and they managed to make London look as if it were back in the past, so they most certainly did an amazing job on the scenery however overall I don’t think I would recommend this film because I think the film itself with the posters and adverts etc. sell the film to be all about the history surrounding the suffragette movement even though as I said earlier does not follow the movement clearly. 

Snatch review

Snatch is a 2000 Crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie. The film is set in London and contains two intertwined plots: one following the search for a stolen diamond and the other with a promoter of illegal fights, Turkish (Jason Statham). Among the search for the stolen diamond are Avi (Dennis Farina), an American "businessman;" Brick Top (Alan Ford), the swine aficionado; and incompetent pawn-shop operators Vinny (Robbie Gee), Sol (Lennie James) and Tyrone (Ade).

The film was very ‘tongue and cheek’ and had many moments of amusement. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Brad Pitt’s character Mickey because they put emphasise of his Irish accent so much so that they made out even the characters had no idea what he was saying, and from watching it, it sounds like even Pitt didn’t understand what he was talking about. By putting the characters in the same position as you it really involves the audience with the film making you feel the same emotions and expressions. For me I payed more attention to the comedy side of this double genre film, then the crime because although the crime was the genre that circulated throughout, the comedic parts would catch you by surprise and therefore grabbed my focus.

Snatch confirms writer/director Guy Ritchie as a filmmaker with a strong visual eye, an ability to create memorable characters and write often funny dialogue. The films editing in particular courtesy of Jon Harris has helped crate and energetic film. Sound effects are crisp and startles the viewer in the right places, and a bigger budget gives way to a memorable fight scene, which is loaded but never overwhelmed with visual effects. This film reminded me of Tarantino’s work with the film based round criminals and therefore allowing the narrative to feature lots of bloodthirsty violence.

Snatch, while somewhat hard to follow, represents a fascinating study in character interaction and complex plot development, it's really the characters more than the plot that make it interesting. Writer/director Ritchie created a multi-faceted crime story deeply immersed with this multitude of tough-guy types. Although it is often violent, there is an undercurrent of humour permeating every scene, with plenty of good lines in the dialogue, and the violence itself is hardly ever shown on screen. Pitt, Farina, Ford, and the rest of the practically all-male cast a quit themselves well, making an interesting collage of personalities. In the spokes-and-wheel metaphor, it could be said that the huge diamond is the equilibrium, since it seems to touch practically every character in some way at some time, and all their experiences radiate outwards from this.

Overall I would recommend this film and it was incredibly funny. Ritchie managed to portray a light hearted tone as well as quite a serious one when need be; particularly scenes that involved the dangerous Brick Top. It followed a range of characters so could show all their personalities, some I preferred over others but I still had an opinion on all characters.   

La Haine and City Of God comparison

In this piece I will be comparing La Haine a 1995 film directed and co-edited by Mathieu Kassovitz and City of god a 2002 film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. I will be discussing themes and the similarities and differences between how they are portrayed.

One main theme discussed in both films is police brutality. Both of these films show how different races are treated by the police by they are shown in very different ways. In La Haine the police are shown to be against different races as it is set in Paris, France which is predominantly a white area. With the three protagonists in La Haine being of different ethnicity’s; Jewish, Arab and Black it is shown how they struggle to live with their lives whilst constantly having the police on their backs watching what they do. The theme of police brutality vs race is more evident in other films like La Haine such as Spike Lee’s 1989 Do The Right Thing.

This theme is also shown within City Of God however because it’s set in Rio, Brazil the police brutality doesn’t surround race but it more so surrounds class. The film is set in the poorer areas of Brazil where the easiest way to make money is through crime, the protagonist in this is poor and lives his life surrounded by others thieving and selling drugs in order to make a living. This is shown when Li’l Ze is walking with his gang and has a shootout with the police. The police constantly keep watch on the town because of this but don’t take much time to find out who has really done right or wrong. I think the police brutality is La Haine follows a more serious issue because of the discrimination of race that still links to the murders that are happening in the world today. Class is still shown in La Haine however on particular scene this is evident is when the three protagonists Vinz, Hubert and Said are sitting in a children’s playground are a news reporter and her cameraman come to talk to the boys about the riots that previously happened. Rather than joining them in the playground they simply look over the railings in the “pit” the park sits in showing the power and dominance the reporter has over the boys, it’s almost as if she’s looking in to an animal pen at a zoo.

Another theme that occurs in both films that links to police brutality is pride. In both films the characters they follow do not want to lose their pride and give in to the police.  In La Haine Vinz is the character who portrays pride, his pride is firstly described by a metaphor when and old man tells them a story in the toilets. The man goes on to tell a story about one of his friends Grunwalski. The Grunwalski story mimics our characters. In their situation they "miss the train" when (SPOILER) - Vinz gets shot, Grunwalski continuously reaches for the train but cannot reach because he tries to maintain his pride and keep his trousers up. The hand represents Vinz's quest for racial equality and an end to police brutality but he cannot reach them because he won't let go of his pride and co-operate with the police. In City Of God however Li’l Ze is trying to keep his pride by staying the “top dog” in the drug business by destroying all his competitors and still escaping from the police. He tries to keep his pride and reputation by not letting his competitors get away.

 The theme of masculinity also falls into this struggle for pride and reputation. This theme is mostly recognisable in City Of God because all the men in the drug business want to be the best and climb their way to the top defeating all competitors. Masculinity is incredibly evident when a young boy goes for help hoping he can help him get revenge for his father as he says “Kid? I smoke, I snort. I’ve killed and robbed. I’m a man” this conveys how committing crimes is all the young children see and think it’s the right thing to do if you want to grow up and become something better; a man. Rocket the centre protagonist also wants to show his masculinity through losing his virginity as if you become a man after having sexual relations. Masculinity is also a theme in La Haine but is not so frequent the main person who wants to be seen as masculine is Vinz who thinks he’s tough and brave after getting a gun, two both very stereotypical traits of becoming a man.