Exam question: Compare the attributes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studied for this topic [35]

The scene I will be talking about is after Said, Vinz and Hubert have just been told to get off the roof. They then go to sit in the park that is in the projects, this playground is lower than the street, like a bear pit/ enclosure. This scene shows that they don't leave to get stuff done or get decent jobs. They just hang around the projects talking to each other, wasting time. To show this the the screen fades to white quite quickly and then fades back. This is used to show time passing. they are positioned to how Said in the middle as Vinz and Hubert  After the flash of white it goes straight into a conversation between the three of them about how Said had sex with someone, 'bigging' himself up to seem more masculine, this is the second time one of the three have 'bigged' them selves up. Vinz does it earlier on in the film, he is bragging about how he was in the riots. This shows the level of poverty they are in, being in conflict with the police. This is a common way to portray that they are underclass in films. As they are talking the audience is shown a news car driving past in the background which then reverses back so they can get a good shot of the three.


The second scene I will be talking about is where Said talks to policeman and then goes into the apartments. the first shot of this scene is a long shot. In this shot you can see Hubert and Vinz closer to the camera walking, not talking to one another. In between them the audience is shown Said talking to a police officer. after they stop talking Said runs to catch up to the others, saying "The pigs are so polite here, he called me 'sir'" this shows the difference in police in the centre of Paris and in the projects. The fact that he refers to them as pigs still shows that their views of police does not change even they are in a different region. As they open the gate to go in Said takes his hat off, this is normally done when people enter important places or meet important people. This shows their level of poverty as they enter this apartment block and he takes his hat off. Also you can see the shock on Saids face as when he is walking in his eyes and mouth are wide open. When they get to the intercom, they speak different to how they normally do. An example of this is when said says "sorry to bother you, is this astrid's place?" this is completely different to how they normally talk.  when they are talking into the intercom it cuts to a Fish-eye lens to show that they are being watched on the intercom, which makes it a point of view shot, from the point of view of the tenant they pressed the button for. After the person on the other end hangs up, Said gets Vinz to try, this is done because he is white and looks more like a typical french person. Even in this scene Said is in the middle, this set up of the characters on screen is very common as Said keeps them together, Hubert and Vinz clash a lot during the film, which shows a day in their life so they are on each side. This turns out to be worse for the three of them as Vinz's character is very short tempered. The woman on the other end of the intercom release with "Why not Obelix While you're at it?". Astrix and Obelix is a very famous French children cartoon. After this comment, Vinz starts shouting at the intercom while Said is trying to pull him back, obviously not wanting the person on the other side to call the police.