Film Essay Examples

Consider strategies used by any realist film director to instil a sense of authenticity in their films

Lynne Ramsay was born in Glasgow in 1969. She graduated in photography from Napier University in Edinburgh, and then attended the National Film and Theatre School, where she studied cinematography, followed by a directing course. A major icon of the 21st century, her films are beacons of reality in a world where "true voices of dissent are seldom heard these days" . Ratcatcher (1999) is set in 1973 Glasgow during the Scottish national garbage strike. The main character, Jamie Gillespie (played by William Eadie), is a 12-year old growing up on an estate that looks increasingly wretched. James inadvertently causes his pal to drown in the local canal, and he flees the scene, apparently unseen. The film ultimately examines the fragility of evolving as a human being. The characters are observed moving from adolescence to adulthood, and in doing so their world becomes darker, and more tainted, as it does for James.

A review in The Criterion summed up the films most credible feat of realism as such: "Utilizing beautiful, elusive imagery, candid performances, and unexpected humor, Ratcatcher deftly contrasts urban decay with a rich interior landscape of hope and perseverance, resulting in a work at once raw and deeply poetic" . The rawness of emotion portrayed in Ratcatcher is just one of the ways in which Ramsay creates a world where realism displaces fantasy.[…]

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"Childhood is a problematic category in the modern worldbecause so many social values are founded on it".Consider the filmic strategies used to probe the social contexts within which childhood is embedded, with examples from more than one film.

Throughout history there have been questions about childhood, its role in society, and the consequential implications for the adult world. Childhood provides the foundation for adulthood, it is a period of growth, learning, and integration into the experienced, working world. Moreover, childhood lays the groundwork for future generations; good morals and skills must be passed down descendants, to ensure smooth running of the world when the present rulers and workers pass away.

Two films that portray a specific role for society in the nurturing of childhood are Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and Nicholas Philebert's Etre et Avoir. Combined, these two films investigate the extent to which children have a voice of their own, and the relationship between an adult's view of a child's needs in preparation for a successful future in contrast to a child's desires in the present. In The Kid, the orphaned boy Jackie has different wants and needs to those deemed necessary by the adult or authoritative world's view. Similarly, Jojo in Etre et Avoir expresses his reason for being at school in response to teacher Lopez's question, "why do you come to school?" with a simple answer, "because my mummy makes me".[…]

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'When attraction turns to obsession, moral certainty to ambiguity, and the clear light of day to the murk of corrupted night, then we are in the world of the "noir" movie'. Consider this statement in relation to any two films from the list given at the beginning of this term. How are these elements of 'noir' given filmic expression?

The term film noir was coined by Nino Frank in 1946, a French film critic who identified a new trend in the Hollywood crime field. In this new 'genre' of cinema, emphasis was place on criminal psychology, violence, misogyny and the breaching of a previously steadfast moral system. Reasons for why film noir emerged are vast and varied. Some believe that with the advent of World War II, a new mood took over America and its media. An atmosphere of disillusion and a sense of foreboding set in, giving many 1940's films "a dark quality that derived as much from the characters depiction as from the cinematographer's art" . Boundaries were pushed and challenged between fantasy and reality, and the lines between 'good' and 'evil' were blurred. Others think that due to the high crime rate that overtook American communities , alongside the emergence of the vastly popular detective crime thriller novel (labelled by James Naremore as 'hard-boiled writers' ), there was enough scope and interest for both filmmakers and viewers to make film noir popular.[…]

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