2. One of the interesting camera angles that I remember seeing a lot during the film deep focus shots of the cocoa fields. These shots would show how big and long the fields were because you would look at the field in a distance. A great example of this is in the establishing shot. The main focus of the shot is surrounded by the setting of the film. Another camera shot that occurred a lot during the film was long shot. Because the main character, Maria, played such an important role in this movie she was constantly being filmed for a long time and there would be close ups of her face. The reason for the close ups was to show her emotion on her face. This film was very emotional and the characters went through a lot during the movie. Maria was always under a lot of stress and wanted more than anything for her plantation to stay alive. In both pictures of picture of Maria also exhibits a point of view shot. A point of view shot is a shot that show a character and what she is looking at. In the establishing shot she is looking at the plantation of cocoa and that symbolizes what Maria truly lives for. The plantation means everything to her, even more than her own family’s safety. In the second photo of the close up of Maria’s face, you can see that she was looking at a radio of some sorts and then looked away. You can tell from the look on her face that she heard something and was clearly looking for something because she is standing in the woods. The facial expressions and setting of where Maria is are what allow viewers to feel the real tome of the film.
3. The film White Material took place in Africa. Maria and her husband owned a coffee plantation and many civilians in the area worked on their coffee plantation. They had one teenage son who also lived with them on the plantation. But, during this time in the film a civil war broke out and the rebel soldiers were committing all acts of violence. Many of these soldiers were young boys who were brainwashed to commit these crimes! The area was no longer safe for Maria and her family to live in, but Maria was not giving up on her coffee plantation. Their family was from France, and she had no desire to return home. She said that Africa was now her home and she would do anything to keep her coffee plantation running. What Maria didn’t realize is how much danger she was putting her family in. One scene in the film that really bothered me was when her son shaved all his hair off of his head and was going around the house fooling around with their shotguns. The scene scared me a little bit because I hate to see kids act out and threaten to kill themselves or others. Also during this time in the film, her son teamed up with the rebel soldiers and gave them all of his family’s food and medicine. The son and the soldiers than began eating the medicine in large doses. These few scenes showed how truly disturbed the children were that were growing up in this terrible environment. This film had a lot of violent scenes with a lot of killing, but the one that stood out to me was the one where Maria found her son dead in one of the shed son the plantation. He had burned to death. This was a very sad scene and terrible for a mother to ever have to go through. But, at the same time this should have been a wakeup call to Maria that she put her family in danger and is no long safe in Africa. Both these scenes reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Long Way Gone, because this novel also deals with rebel armies and the brainwashing of these young boys. This novel was taken plaec in Lebon and the affects of the war had a huge impact on this young man's life who wrote the novel. He lived to tell his story to make others around the worl aware of what people are livng like in these countries. It makes me realize how lucky I am to live in such a safe environment.
4. In the film White Material there were 4 main characters, Maria, Andre, Manuel, and Andre’s father. Andre was Maria’s husband and Manuel was her son. Maria was the first character that the viewers were introduced to in the film. Throughout the movie you could see her strong sense of determination. But, even though she was so determined she was very inconsiderate of her family and those around her. She was so concerned with her plantation dh having what she wanted that she did not care that she was putting others in danger by making them work on the plantation. By the end of the movie she finally realized that she lost what was most valuable in her life and that was her family! Her husband, Andre, was much more realistic about the plantation and knew that if they were going to survive they needed to give it up. He loved his wife, but saw her slipping away when the war struck and she feared having to change her life. He played the role as the peace maker in this film, but struggled gaining the support of his wife. Their son Manuel grew up in a very rough environment. He was surrounded by violence and all his mother wanted him to ever do was help her on the plantation. Because he wanted to leave Africa so badly and hated the environment in which he lived, he acted out by becoming one of the rebels. He felt as if this would catch someone’s attention and he no longer would have to pretend.
5. The music in the film did not have words and would just play in the background as Maria would be running all over town trying to get people to work on her plantation in order to keep it alive. The musical instrument that I could hear the most was the strings. The music was very serious and set the tone for the movie. By listening to the music I could tell that this movie was very going to be very intense and violence was going to occur. Just by listening and watching this short trailer scene you get a vibe of strong emotion that occurs during this film and that the characters are holding on for their life.
6. The genre of this film is Action/Adventure. It has a lot of action in it because there is a lot of violence going on throughout the movie. It is an adventure because the plot is centered on an adventure for Maria to save her plantation, but in order for her to do that she had to fight against the rebel forces. This film is definitely a thriller, and while not based on a true story it reflects a very real thing that is occurring in Africa and other countries today.
7. After seeing the film, White Material, and understanding the plot I could really take away a message from this movie. In high school I read a lot of books on the issue that is occurring in Africa and other poor corrupt countries in the world. Films like White Material are making people aware of the violence that is going on in these countries and how people are dying every day. While this film is centered on Maria and her family’s coffee plantation, the message people are supposed to take away from this film is to be aware of these issues that are occurring in our world and to also be grateful that we live in such a safe environment. The message that I took away from Maria’s character in this movie is to always put my family and the people in my life before anything else, because at the end of the day they are what are truly going to matter!
No comments:
Post a Comment