Jason 'City of God' Analysis

1. City of God opening scene analysis
City of God starts with a montage of a sharp blade scraping a rock so that it makes a sharper, as
this is happening the screen goes blank rapidly making it hard for the audience to see the blade
but easy to hear (diegetic sound) this creates a juxtaposition because the film is about violence
yet people are celebrating and partying which creates an atmosphere in the shot, this also
creates an enigma code for the audience because they want to know why the blade is being
sharpened for and also what is the reason for celebration.
The scene continues there are many cross-cuts being used for example there are cross-cuts and
close ups on carrots being peeled and chickens being killed in order for people to eat there are
also cross-cuts and close ups of people with no shoes on this shows the audience that the place
the chicken is being prepared is poor and may be in the slums.
As people are preparing food in the background you can hear drums being played and sounds
like a Latino- samba based theme, this tells the audience that this could be set in the Favelas in
Brazil.
The chicken then gets away from the scene because its scared and doesn’t want to be killed,
this signals that the film is violent and bloody, another symbolic example would be the extreme
close up of chicken blood on the plate this also shows that this is going to be a violent film. As
the chicken gets away a man appears shouting out orders while the rest which seems to be his
gang run off following his orders, this suggests that he is the leader of the gang which
strengthens my claimthat the filmis going to have violence and killings in it.
Next you see the main protagonist come in the scene when he is scene with a friend who is
warning him not to go back to the slums or he will be killed, as they are walking there is a cross-
cut with the gang leader who is threatening to kill a someone who got in his way, a over the
shoulder shot in an high angle shows that he is powerful and basically rules the whole
neighborhood.
The gang leader and main protagonist finally meet and he tells him to pick up the chicken, as
he's about to the police arrive and the gang suddenly panic and but the leader tells them to
hold and draw out their weapons. Now the main protagonist is stuck in the middle and a 360
shot is used to show the whole perspective of the scene.