Faat Kine directed by Ousmane Sembene works to bring up many major issues such as family, women’s rights, education, and social class. I believe this film to be a perfect example as to what postcolonialism really entails through African countries, especially Senegal. The main concept behind postcolonialism is the fact that many of these African countries have been unable to veer away from the European western culture even though they have made an independence from them already. These African countries are still struggling with the many issues that arose while they were under the control of the Europeans. Although we can still see some of the characteristics of postcolonialism we can also see how Kine is working to improve and move away from those characteristics through the lives of her children. One of the most focused on aspects for Kine throughout the film is her obsession with her children obtaining a baccalaureate. She becomes so obsessed and infatuated with them obtaining it because she never got the chance to do it herself. We see overall themes of Kine working to improve herself and become more successful each and every day. The overall take away from the film can be seen as an empowerment to women and how they are evolving just like Kine. Sembene makes this known through the use of many different aspects such as how Kine carries herself with confidence, her conspicuous body language and is also put into far more extravagant costuming than other characters. What is interesting and intrigues me the most is the idea that Sembene allows Faat Kine to not only relate to African American women, but anyone, at least I believe so. It goes to show that no matter your past you can still rebuild yourself and become successful if you have the work ethic and willingness to. 

The Crimes of Padre Amaro by Carlos Carrera is a film I can definitely strongly relate to and be drawn in by. I was raised Catholic and currently still practice Catholicism during my time in college. I can certainly see why many hispanics in Mexico viewed this film as controversial while knowing Catholicism has always been a highly practiced religion in Mexico in the past and still today. As I can understand individuals concerns about the Catholic Church and many people are entitled to their own opinions on it, I do think it might have been a little too over criticized. I have a difficult time understanding why Carrera felt the need to make an entire fictional film about bashing the Catholic Church. I do not have much to say about this film and Carrera’s work as it seems too overly offensive for my liking. Despite this I will acknowledge the fact that he was able to produce a melodramatic tone that allowed for increased emotion through the relationship between Amaro and Amelia. His use of low lighting and strong interactions with the characters allows for me to really empathize even further. If anything it brings out an almost feministic side to myself. It goes to show that men can get away with getting a woman pregnant and navigate around taking responsibility for their actions. The film ending with the death of Amelia and her baby as well as Amaro not even taking the blame, left me upset and confused. All I can ask myself is why would someone make an ending so tragic? All in all, I did not agree with Carrera in the making of this film, I am sure he was going somewhere with it or might of had a deeper meaning, but I am just not seeing it.

In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai takes the audience on a journey to a more deep and emotional connection. The audience is persuaded to empathize with Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan as they navigate through their feeling of heartbreak due to the adultery of their spouses, but also through their feeling of creating a new relationship with each other. In the Mood for Love fits in as almost typical hollywood cinema film to me in my perspective of it. Wong uses cinematic language, mise en scene, cinematography, color and music to put us in a suspenseful and sensual state throughout the duration of the film. Questions such as “Are they together? Do they have feelings for each other? Will they get married? Do they end up with each other?” rose in my head constantly throughout the film. One of the most interesting aspects that I feel separated Wong from many other directors is his use of different angles and shots when displaying conversations. In the specific example of when Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow both find out that their spouses are cheating on them in the hotel, Wong uses these types of unusual shots by using a mirror reflection on Mrs. Chan and hoping we understand that her and Mr. Chow are both in the room without actually displaying that with the camera. Overall, I feel as if Wong successfully intrigued me through his many techniques and made me feel exactly what he was hoping I would feel, considering I am interested in watching his sequel to In the Mood for Love, 2046.

The Five Obstructions directed by Lars Van Trier portrays something completely out of the ordinary. Watching and trying to analyze what was going on throughout the documentary film honestly made my brain hurt. There were so many things going on and the act of Van Trier trying to navigate through his Vows of Chastity rules made it seem almost impossible for me to truly understand what was going on. Although this was my initial reaction, I do definitely applaud Van Trier in his efforts to switch up the process of filmmaking. The filmmaking industry surely needed to take a break and lean off the numerous amount of hollywood films during the 2000 time period. I personally like how he also challenges Jordan Leth to create the Perfect Human with the use of The Vows of Chastity. He not only pushed himself to go out of his comfort zone with Dogme 95, but pushed others to as well. Van Trier has an incentive to improve and challenge filmmakers. Van Trier was also able to use the experience as a way to go back to the basics of filmmaking. The specific Vow of Chastity that enforces this is the third one saying that the camera must be handheld and able to be moved solely within the hand. It really takes the directors back in time to when filmmaking started and when it was nothing but the camera man and the camera. I can only imagine that it helped reevaluate and remember why he truly loved filmmaking to begin with. I believe this is something every filmmaker should consider doing to overall improve their work.

The Milky Way by hispanic director Luis Bunuel shows a combination of philosophy and entertainment. There is no doubt that Bunuel likes to sort of almost play with the audience and their thinking. Bunuel works constantly throughout this specific film to change and develop the audience. His way of film could maybe even be seen as a trick or play on our minds as he wants us to believe the film is just about solely religion and his opinion on it, but it goes deeper than that, he works to have us unconsciously form our own opinion and how we think about religion ourselves. He wants to get a reaction out of the audience. He is so good at doing this that he can even get to the heads of individuals in the audience that are not even religious. Most importantly he shows the hispanic movement of surrealism throughout his works and specifically The Milky Way. I honestly do not think he could have portrayed surrealism any better than he did in this film. Many film directors would be hesitant to undergo such a controversial subject as it difficult to discuss it in the right. Only a certain number of people I believe are able to gracefully do it, but Bunuel is one of those people. He refuses to give the audience a free pass to religious ideas. He does such an amazing job of not only giving a plot and allowing us to follow along with Jean and Pierre and intrigue us in, but force us to critically think deeper as to what their encounters are really meaning. I would like to highlight and go into an analyzation to one of the specific scenes that caught my eye and offered and even greater support to my claim. The Jansenist/Jesuit duel shows once again how Bunuel makes us critically think through the use of introspection. Bunuel transforms ideas about the controversial subject of religion between Jansenist and Jesuits into a physical form of a sword fight. He ensures that you’re not only hearing about the controversiality, but physically seeing it as well. 

The Seven Samurai directed by Akira Kurosawa has definitely been one of the more difficult films to interpret for myself. I do not have a specific reason as to why except as to the fact that the culture and difference in way of life and location is so dissimilar from the films previously assigned. These other films were created in such a different culture and part of the world. It goes to show again how contrasting films can be from separating parts of the world. Although it was particularly hard for me to follow along with the plot, I was able to connect some ideas and trends from reading about the history and characteristics that were associated with Japan and the time period. One of the main elements and takeaways associated with the Sengoku era would have to be the chaos and disorder arising from the fighting and wars needed to protect the warlords. This is certainly shown throughout the film as the samurai are obviously serious about the protection of their warlord and attack from bandits. The film may have been difficult for me to understand and interpret, but if anything I was able to appreciate and take note that Kurosawa’s use of slow motion during the fighting scenes made it far more intriguing. It gave me a new perspective towards action films and allowed me to experience something I was not used to. Another fascinating aspect I would like to take note of is that even though keeping track of all seven samurai and their personalities was a lot to stay on board with, I was able to distinguish how many of them were different and contributed their own strong abilities to help the overall group of samurai. 

Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica utilizes many techniques and cinematic language aspects in order to make the audience feel some type of way. The entire film revolves around the question of whether it is morally right for Antonio to steal the bicycle. The film takes us on a journey through the use of neorealism and forces us to distinguish if we should empathize with Antonio or not. Neorealism was one of the most popular movements seen during this time throughout Italian cinema. Some characteristics that are used to describe it are the use of pathos, polarities, long shots, non professional actors, natural lighting, and the struggles of the common man. Many of these characteristics can be seen in the most pivotal scene of the entire film in which Antonio actually steals the bicycle. De Sica particularly uses a long shot which hinders the audience from seeing the expression on his face. The scene is also shot very slowly and forces us to watch Antonio’s every move and what he could possibly be thinking. Not only that, but the natural lightning allows us to also focus on his every move and how internally hesitant he really was in the moments leading up to the physical stealing action. This hesitancy and uncertainty within his actions lean me towards believing within myself that Antonio stealing the bicycle was in no doubt morally wrong. It almost leads me to believe that the way an individual responds to the film is an overall test of morality within themselves. If an individual is so quick to sympathize and believe that the act was morally right without thought then maybe the individual should reconsider how they go about and make decisions in their life. De Sica does a superior job of incorporating traits of neorealism and getting the audience to critically and introspectively think. 

Metropolis created and produced by director Fritz Lang is a science-fiction film that portrays two different techniques and art movements used in german cinema: modernism and expression. The transition between the previous assigned movie, The Man with the Movie Camera and Metropolis was especially interesting to me as the The Man with the Movie Camera specifically focused on a utopian outlook while Metropolis focused on a more of a dystopian outlook. It seems almost ironic that these two viewpoints that are completely opposite would appear right after each other. It definitely helped me to realize and come to terms better with the idea that society is constantly evolving and different areas of the world have different perspectives. The utilization of expressionism was definitely shown through the movie’s high contrast imaging, dark shadows and use of doubling. These techniques throughout the movie allowed for me to experience an almost eerie and horror movie like feeling. I could also sense the strong use of modernism as Maria was specifically doubled into a robot by the city master, Freder. The most fascinating aspect about Metropolis specifically was the reality that the movie was made before Germany’s fall after WWII and the separation that they experienced after it between East and West Berlin. Lang made the movie for the sole purpose of working to create awareness about what was really happening between the country, but his efforts failed as the country ended up going into distraught either way after WWII. Overall, I think Lang’s style provided a twist to the progress of film and secondarily showed how history affects aspects of film. 

The Man with the Movie Camera is described as a documentary film directed by Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov. Vertov takes us on a stroll through everyday life in Russia through the use of the “man with the movie camera”.  Although the film is a documentary and does bring us through daily Russian life, Vertov has the incentive to portray the life has strictly utopian. He looks to show the beauty and fun of filmmaking as he makes rebellious and outgoing adventures such as lying down on the railroad tracks while the train is approaching only to make sure he got an unusual angle. Vertov utilizes many atypical concepts and cinematic language aids throughout his filmmaking of the Man with the Movie Camera. He first makes the illusion that the film was made in one city even though it was really made in three cities. Vertov was able to do this through his use of montage and continuous clips being flown together. There is no way we would be able to tell which city is which. His use of freeze frames also plays a big role in his filmmaking as he uses it to almost remind us that movies are only fictional and never real. Mediated and stopped images can never happen in actual life. Not only that, but he works to make the audience feel uncomfortable and out of place through the use of his kino-eye which shows an eye looking out the camera lens from a close-up view. Overall, I can say Vertov’s style, willingness to go out of cinematic norms is something that ultimately caught my eye. He created a piece that forced the audience to think critically not only about the movie, but about their own lives as well.

The 400 Blows was written and directed by French film director François Truffaut and uses many cinematic techniques to enhance its story line and overall delivery to the audience. The fact that the storyline originated from Truffaut’s own life is what interested me the most about this movie. It also shows how the way parents raise and treat their children can have a strong affect on their children and the type of person they grow into. Truffaut takes us on a journey through his childhood and intrigues us to empathize and feel the way he felt. He uses many close-ups and freeze shots on the main character, Antoine who was the actor posing as Truffaut. These close-ups and freeze shots force us to look at Antonine’s reactions through the images of his face and almost predict what he was feeling and how the actions of others should have made him feel. Since The 400 Blows was created and published during the French New Wave time period and displayed one of its many used concepts such as the antihero. Antoine can be directly correlated to the idea of antihero as he went against a numerous number of societal norms and behaviors. He was a rebel who was always did the opposite of what the typical perfect protagonist hero would be doing. My overall favorite aspect from this movie was the use of the ambiguous scene at the end. The camera goes alongside Antoine as he runs away from the reformatory and ends up alongside the beach. The camera zooms in on a frozen shot of Antoine and that’s the end. It creates a sort of open-ended question as to what the next event in his life ends up being. We do not know if he gets caught or builds a new life and can move on from his past suffering, but that’s the beauty in it. We the audience can decide what his fate turns into.