Exam Question - City Of God

Discuss some of the techniques used in your chosen films to provoke audiences into taking a particular point of view towards characters and key events. 

In the film 'City of God' the director, Fernando Merielles, uses many technical and cinematic techniques to giving the audience a certain point of view towards the characters during different scenes. He makes very good use of editing, mise-en-scene, lighting and angles to engage the audience and make them feel like they are there with the characters.

In the scene where Steak n' Fries is forced to shoot another little boy, the director makes use of miss-en-scene, and purposely places the gun in the centre of each shot, showing that the gun dominates the scene. This shows the power in the scene, and also the power throughout the favela. It shows that, whoever has the gun, has the power. In this case, Lil' Ze and his gang have the power in the favela, because they own all the weapons and control the drugs. The director uses the over-the-shoulder shot to show Lil' Ze pointing the gun towards the boy.

Merielles uses the same technique in other shots during the scene, making the gun clearly visible to the audience and showing that it dominates the favela. What is surprising about this scene is how disturbingly  accurate it is. 'City of God is based on a book, which talks about the dangerous life people undergo within them. This scene is actually a very precise representation of how life was/is in the favelas. Gangs formed and controlled the towns independently, because they believed the Government was not doing anything to help them, so the people took matters into their own hands. What resulted was a place where you could be killed for even looking at the wrong person. Kill, or be killed - this is exactly what happens to Steak in this scene.

At the very beginning of the film, the director shows us the current world that the gangs live in, as the plot is not linear. The sequence comprises of many fast shots, with short bursts of sound. Using a mixture of close-ups and extreme close-ups during this sequence portrays that the life the people live in the favela is very enclosed, and fast-paced. The director purposely only shows snapshots of life. The mise-en-scene of the knife being sharpened reflects that life in the favelas is like living on the 'edge of a knife'. The entire sequence is accompanied by some traditional Brazilian music, that features drums, clapping, and guitars. The song is similar to the film; fast paced and lively.

After the opening scene, the director shows us a small standoff between police and Lil' Ze's gang. The main character, Rocket, ends up literally caught in the middle. 
Here, the director uses a horizontal spin/pan medium shot around the character, to show on one side, Lil's Ze's gang, and on the other, police. The shot shows that Rocket is neither on the side of the gangs, nor the police - he is a neutral character, which could also be the reason why he hasn't been killed. He has made the decision to not pick up a weapon, and become a hoodlum. Throughout the movie, a recurring theme is that if a character chooses to become a hoodlum, and pick up a gun, he will die. 
The director has placed a large distance between Rocket and the gang, showing that, throughout the film, Rocket will not be a part of the gang or the police. The camera is a big part of this scene, and shows that Rocket prefers to shoot pictures, not bullets. This reference is seen during the film in the scenes that Rocket appears in. The director wants to show that shooting with a gun and shooting with a camera is the difference between life and death.

To conclude, Merielles uses many cinematic techniques to involve the viewer and show them a specific point of view during the film. Using the camera he has shown an accurate picture of what living in the Rio De Janeiro favelas is like.