Essay on opening scene of 'City of God'

In the opening scene of the film ‘City of God’, the sharpening of the knife is in contrast to the upbeat and liveliness that is in the environment; the music in the background, the food preparations and the drums that are being played by the people. The diegetic sound of the knife sharpening overlaps the upbeat music and the short yet quick and extreme close up shots of the knife create tension. This is because the use of a knife signifies that there will be violence and conflict later on in the film. The close up shots of the chicken in between the continuity shots of the knife sharpening and the food making portrays the chicken as an object. This objectification is also shown when another chicken in the scenario is skinned and is part of the food preparation. The close up shot of the chickens’ leg being tied up signifies the impact of being ‘trapped’ which could later relate to human violence.

When the chicken is being slaughtered, the graphic use of blood signifies and connotes death and danger which could leave the viewer’s questioning whether or not the connotation will be in use later on in the film. In the scene, once the chicken escaped from being slaughtered, it shows that it has gained a sense of freedom. However, when the gang members notice that the chicken has escaped, they try to recapture the freedom that the chicken has, indicating the way the Brazilian gang members ‘capture’ other peoples freedoms with violence and conflict.

Once the chicken landed on the ground from the high flight that it had fell from, the upbeat and lively music stops with a sudden silence, signifying that the oncoming scene is no longer ‘upbeat’ nor ‘lively’ giving an insight that trouble and conflict is to be seen. The gang leader shouts “F**k, the chicken’s got away! Go after that chicken, man!” It shows how dominant the leader is as he orders the gang members to catch the chicken. This is when the shot is captured from underneath the stairs when the gang members rush out to capture the chicken by the use of armed weaponry such as guns. This denotes that the gang will be willing to do anything to and go out of their way to capture something that is seen as an ‘object’, portraying danger in the life of Brazilian slums. The short and close up shots of when the gang leader is finding the violence humorous portrays how irrational he is.

The birds-eye view shot that was taken to show the gang members chasing the chicken exposes an overall view of how the Brazilian slums are and shows their living ways. When the chicken is trying to be captured by the gang, the camera shot was made to show that its purpose was to only focus and draw attention to the chicken as the gang members’ legs were only shown, not their full bodies. The fact that the chicken is trying to escape from being slaughtered could relate to the connotation often used as of being a ‘chicken’ or a coward. This connotation could then be deeply explored even greatly further on in the film in contrast to the domain character in the film.

Furthermore in the scene, two boys are targeted by the gang in the middle of the road to catch the chicken, a 180 degree rule was used to show the boys and the gang, another 180 degree rule was used when the gang was confronted by the police. The music blended in with the apprehensive scene as it made the scene seem violent.