The first time that we see the character of Vinz, he is in a
dream in which he is dancing to very stereotypically Jewish music in a very
comical way that is once again seen as a very stereotypically Jewish style.
This use of non-diegetic sound and performance mise-en-scene clearly shows
Vinz’s Jewish heritage which, as the audience have just been introduced to
Said, shows the wide range of nationalities and ethnicities of the people who
live in the projects. Though this scene is a dream, it is set in a very dirty
environment. In the background whilst Vinz dances, the walls are covered in
graffiti and there are wooden pallets laying around. This use of mise-en-scene
shows the fact that even when he dreams, Vinz is unable to escape from the
environment he lives in due to his social situation.
When Vinz is woken up, the non-diegetic sound of the
‘Jewish’ music can still be heard, though on a lower volume. This use of sound
represents the fact that, though in his waking hours Vinz is still Jewish, he
has to be much more low-key about that fact, however in his dreams, he can be
much more open about his Jewish heritage. Furthermore, with the use of a 360
degree camera pan, we are able to see the contents of his bedroom, which he
shares with his sister, showing the poverty within the projects, as they do not
have enough bedrooms for the entire family. Vinz’s room is completely filled
with brands that the audience would not expect to see in a French environment,
such as Adidas and Nike trainers, and he is wearing a t-shirt of American
superhero ‘Spiderman’. The walls are also covered in posters of American boxers
and Marilyn Monroe, and the bedroom door has a poster of Bruce Lee who is very
prominent in American culture. This use of mise-en-scene emphasises the
Westernisation that was happening at the time and is still happening today,
pushing out the traditional cultures of these countries. This scene may cause
confusion in the audience as they would not expect to see this in a French
environment, the scene looks as though it should be set in America. There is
also a lack of anything educational on Vinz’s side of the room, with the very
few books he owns serving no purpose other than to hide his drugs. This
illustrates the fact that the men in the projects are very often uneducated,
therefore giving them no hope of moving away from their social circumstances.
Later in the film, Hubert and Vinz go to the police station to
wait for Said to be released. Hubert begins rubbing his neck which illustrates
that he is clearly uncomfortable being in close proximity to the police
officers, whereas Vinz’s gaze is never still and he is constantly moving
around, which shows that he is, less uncomfortable, but more uneasy and
untrusting of them. One police officer stares at Vinz as he walks past, showing
that the police are constantly suspicious of the youths. This suspicion between
the police and the youths, illustrated through the mise-en-scene of their
performance, creates a very tense atmosphere that causes the audience to become
very uncomfortable. Through a 180 degree pan, the Police station is shown to be
very run down and covered in graffiti, which shows the audience that the police
are not immune from the destruction of the riots, and are in a very similar
situation. Furthermore, the Police Officers are shown to be smoking and simply
hanging around, very similarly to the actions of the youths that they are in
conflict with. This mise-en-scene also shows that the police are of as wide a
variety of ethnicities as the rioters and the residents of the projects, which
shows that the conflict that triggered the riots was not based upon race, as
they would be far less likely to shoot a young man simply because of his
ethnicity if they were employed alongside a man of the same ethnicity, and was
most likely a very misunderstood situation. This links to a quote by a French
poet and Philosopher ‘Charles Baudelaire’, a picture of whom is shown at the
end of the film in the projects, who said that ‘The world only goes round on
misunderstanding’. This links not only to the ethnicity of the police officers,
but also suggests that whilst there is misunderstanding between these groups,
the conflict between them will constantly go round in circles with no end.
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