Comparison of the opening scenes in La Haine and City Of God

Comparison of the opening scenes in La Haine and City Of God

The opening scene of La Haine differs from the style of the opening scene in City Of God. In La Haine, the opening scene is a series of documentary images showing rioting in France. This sets the theme for the rest of the film. The track “burnin and lootin” is playing in the background. The choice to use this track is effective as the relaxed vibe of the music contrasts the violent images of the riots. Both the scenes of rioting and the reggae music contrast the traditional french culture. City Of God’s opening scene differs to the opening scene of La Haine as it presents traditional Brazilian culture rather than contrasting it like in La Haine. The busy social scene such as people dancing and cooking together present a typical culture. It also sets a different theme and mood than La Haine. Despite differing in how they present the cultures in the scene they are set. Both opening scenes are similar because they both have the intent to present the culture that will be represented within the rest of the film.

Violence is presented in both of the opening scenes. In La Haine, the footage of riots is one blatant way in which the director presents the violence that we will later see in the rest of the film. The representation of violence in City Of God starts off subtle. One way in which it is presented is the sharpening of the knife. Other subtle ways that can be interpreted as the representation of the theme of violence is cutting up the chicken and the bowl of chicken. Later on we see more obvious hints of violence such as Lil Ze and his gang carrying guns. The violence in the opening scene of City Of God is linked directly to the characters rather than linking it to society in La Haine.

Cinematography in the opening scenes also differ. In La Haine, the documentary footage is relatively but steady but shaky at some points whilst focusing on large groups of people using long shots to show the masses. City Of God differs from this as the camera is a lot more shaky, the director uses close up shots to show more detail. The characters story can be hinted through the camera angle of the chicken. We can see a point of view shot from the chicken, as it is running the camera is very shaky. The fact that we see a point of view shot from a chicken that is trying to escape can connote how the characters want to escape from The City Of God. This is a contributing factor to the themes as the close up shots have many connotations that help the audience to understand the themes.

Both scenes are set in the poorer areas of big and popular cities. Les Banlieus in Paris and the Favelas in Rio De Janeiro are where the government put the poorer people to keep them away from tourists in the capital. This is one way on which that opening scenes are similar. We can see from the setting that they are in poorer areas.

In the opening scene in City Of God, we are shown the main characters. Lil Ze and Rocket personalities are set as soon as they are introduced. Lil Ze is clearly the leader of his group, we can see this from the way in which those around him listen to him. Rocket is more quiet and his passion is presented; photography. In contrast to this, La Haine does not show any of the main characters. This is effective in presenting the topic of the film as universal, rather than making the issue of police brutatility focused on the three main characters the director relates it to those that have suffered by showing the documentary footage.