City of God essay

What is the importance of miss en scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating resins in City of God?

During the ‘story of the apartment’ montage scene, we are first introduced with a cross dissolve edit comparing the tenants of the apartment to the previous owners. A constant long shot introduces Dona Zelia as a female recluse drug dealer, describing her as not really understanding what she was doing. The social exclusion of this woman relates to the treatment of women in general in Brazil, especially in the favelas and how they are often treated with disrespect. This is emphasised by the violent treatment from her ‘customer’ big boy who takes over her business. Before big boy becomes the tenant of the apartment, the mise-en-scene displays a relatively clean and well-looked after apartment, reflecting the values held by women and reinforcing their stereotypical roles as cleaners, cooks and mothers. The long shot in which Dona Zelia gets dragged away by big boy, pulling the table cloth with her, not only portrays the fading influence and respect of women in the favelas, but also conveys the way she takes anything remotely positive with her. The mise-en-scene of the wallpaper falling, the floors getting dirtier and the depletion of the furniture as different people begin to take over the apartment, represents the decay and downfall of the favelas which only propels with the increase of drug use and sales. A mid-shot of big boy and a runt shows the mise-en-scene of a package of drugs being passed on to the runt to sell, conveying the moral injustice surrounding the favelas at the time and how children are indoctrinated from such a young age to deal and take drugs as a way of life. This aspect of narrative runs throughout the film and especially links to the drug montage scene which explains the hierarchy in the favela’s drug cartel.

The initial long tracking shot of the montage depicts silhouettes throwing drug packages across rooftops, emphasising the illegality of the act and the mise-en-scene of the setting sun in the background enforces the idea that these acts were conducted at night to minimise chance of capture or interruption. The sequence is so regimented that the production and sale of drugs seems like a daily routine, which at the time the film was made, when 70% of people in favelas were involved in drug sale or consumption, it practically was. The mise-en-scene of the cocaine in a trivial drinks can really emphasises the desensitisation of attitudes towards drug culture in the favelas and the following close-up of a book being ripped to make rolls of cannabis portrays the lack of care or time people have for education, as most people could not read anyway and lived by selling drugs or working in production/delivery of illegal substances. A close up of the mise-en-scene of the book page being rolled accentuates the disregard for education and the heavy focus on the influence of drugs on a young male’s life. The sequence then cuts to a selection of mid-shots focusing on the mise-en-scene of children walking around the favelas, delivering drugs, while the voice-over narrative describes the hierarchy and the rise of status within the drug industry, relating to the way children aspire to be drug dealers from a young age and enjoy being a part of the community. When describing the ‘soldier’ in the hierarchy, a sharp diegetic whistle is sounded whir simultaneously the mise-en-scene of a gun is drawn from the boy’s pocket. Both of these techniques together portray the progression of the roles in the industry and how the status within the cartel impacts the innocence (or lack there of) of the young males who grow up in this disassociated world full of violence, drugs and desensitisation.