Viro Giernald Encinares Bacungan 1-AOM
Ms. Milovy Ramos Humanities 01
Critical Paper
"Point of View"
The movie stands for itself. Overall, the movie is beyond excellent, it is just too good. The storyline is clear and very descriptive, detailed yet the flow was very smooth and easy to relate to. The story was continual, the arrangement of the different stories of different characters were intelligently organized in a manner that it follows the main storyline. As for the story itself, the plot was controversial yet eye catching to the viewers. It made the movie appealing and a must watch to the viewers. It was like the movie was just cut into different stories that made a bigger plot. The cinematography was unusual to the mainstream industry, innovative and unique in style. The video editing was very impressive. I was very much interested and amazed of the way that the movie was edited. The cuts, the focus, the movement, everything... it made the movie. Not to mention the music that gave the Brazilian groove to the movie. It maximized the use of cultural materials of Brazil which is a good thing. I can say that the setting and props used were carefully prepared. The story timeframe was around 60’s to the 80’s. Everything was most likely from these times… from the televisions to the camera used by rocket to the vehicles. After doing some research on the movie, I found out that most of the cast in the movie were first-time or amateur actors. I was just staggered by the fact that they acted like pros in the movie when in fact they were just amateurs. Maybe it is also because most of the cast came from “Cicade de Deus” itself. They experience it every day that makes it natural for them to act it out.
If viewed with the knowledge I gained from Humanities 01, I would say that it gave me a deeper understanding of things, especially the technical/formalist way of assessing the movie; everything from the color coordination, scene focus, dialogues, and many more technical aspects of the movie. Also I remember the study of toys by Barthes when I was watching the movie; most definitely, the children of the ghetto of Cicade de Deus did not have good toys around. But instead, they were given guns and joints to enjoy themselves. This influence of the environment that they live in tells their innocent mind that being a hoodlum is the coolest thing to be. It then affects their actions making them rampantly violent. At a young age they were taught how to kill a person, or are made into errand runners for drug transactions. We can clearly see the negative effect of their environment to their principles of formation. In terms of stereotypes, I noticed the emphasis of the movie to the career path of the lives of the people in Cicade de Deus. They were always thought to be hoodlums, every single one of them, a stereotype way of seeing the life of the people in the slums. However, here comes Rocket who breaks the expected type of life in the slum who became a photographer. This defies the usual flow of thinking toward the people in the slums. It just says that not all, though most, of the people in Cicade de Deus are hoodlums.
I was able to catch many concepts of universal principles in the movie: corruption, drugs, revenge, power, survival of the fittest are just some of the very noticeable issues. The movie is controversial especially because it is based of true events. Some of the characters portrayed in the movies were people from real life. The movie simultaneously showed these concepts supporting a single idea with the other. It also depicted the illusion of peace while in the hands of powerful people; an illusionary peace made by these people to cover up their wrong doings. The setting itself is an image of struggle and helplessness contradictory to the conventional image of Brazil – majestic and glamorous. It helps the viewers to see deeper into Brazil, the other side of Brazil, rotting and violent. It opens up the eyes of the people watching giving them an idea on how is the life on the other side.
I’ll give the movie a four star rating to four and a half. I personally liked it, its ideals, its cinematography, its story, its theme. IT’S DEFINITELY ART.