Global Cinema Assessment

4. With close reference to the two films you have studied, explore how either performance or mise-en-scène create meaning. [40]


Both City of God and Ida, as films from global cinema, employ performance to create meaning, by forming human connections between the spectator and the characters they follow. In both films, this is integral to bridging the cultural divide between the typically Western arthouse spectator and each film's different worlds, with the favelas in City of God, and post-war Poland in Ida. In both cases, non-professional actors, from the places in question, are employed to bring realism to the film, and to make the films' meanings come from within the people they document, rather than from outside them. In doing so, the spectator becomes a visitor to the film's world, and the meanings within them, as they can find a way into the perspective of characters very different to them. In City of God, many shots spend time developing some of the more violent characters into fully-formed and insecure people, and, in Ida, director Pawlikowski draws out an emotional resonance in very closed-off characters, by intimately following them into their darkest and most vulnerable moments. Unlike most film features, performance is wholly on-screen, both in action and execution, and so is essential in consciously influencing the spectator, where a feature such as lighting would be more subconscious in its influence.

An example of performance humanising the villain archetype characters and, therefore, defying conventions surrounding antagonists by putting the spectator briefly in their perspective, is in the "Benny's Farewell sequence" where the character of Lil Ze, a ruthless and murderous gang leader, who had previously been focalised on during a massacre he committed as a child, is demonstrated to be as insecure and emotionally vulnerable as the protagonist of Rocket. The camera's focus on Lil Ze, in amongst a large, and moving, crowd of people, creates a solid bond between him and the spectator as, despite rapid lighting and music changes, Lil Ze is tracked, with the camera pointed at his head for a human connection. The actor's performance here contrasts the brash violence of Lil Ze before this scene, and helps alter perceptions of him into something closer to a sense of understanding, and even sympathy, in the film's second half. The focus on his darting eye movements, back and forth from a woman he wants to try and dance with, clearly portray his lack of confidence when it comes to romantic relationships, and making connections outside of his gang. This is reinforced as a consistent insecurity as the catalyst for his actions here were Benny instructing him to "get a girlfriend", exploring a cognitive dissonance between Lil Ze's implied confidence and his actual diffidence when it comes to how he is perceived of by his friends. More specifically, and this becomes very important in light of Benny's accidental death in this scene, the insecurity stems from a jealousy of Benny, who can command the gang with a popularity and coolness, and romantic successfulness, that Lil Ze cannot obtain. Performance here is used as an explanation for Lil Ze's actions, as his cruelty and misogyny stems from his own lack of self-worth, and the death of Benny is thus contextualised within this, leading to Lil Ze's downfall, in the endless cycle of favela gang warfare. Whilst, Lund and Merielles are not defending or justifying Lil Ze's barbaric actions, they are using performance to demonstrate that the criminal neglect of the favelas by Brazilian authorities creates these terrible urges and motivations in people otherwise relatable to the spectator.

Where performance is used in City of God to humanise criminals, of equal importance is its use in creating a protagonist for the spectator to latch on to as a guide in the world of the favelas. Rocket's consistent charisma propels him as both a narrative force and as a moral figure within the gang wars in the world of the story. Interestingly, the character of Rocket is based on a real person, and so performance is used to highlight the reality of the conditions in the favelas, as a connection with fictional Rocket would then transcend into a connection with the real-world equivalent, and, thus with the story of the favelas. As a narrator, Rocket's ordered chronology on the history of the favelas, throughout the film, juxtaposes the chaos within the story, as different figures rise and fall, and all semblance of justification and authority fall through. Rocket's moral decision at the end, sending the police bribe pictures to the newspaper, represents the damning criticism on the authorities that City of God has as the forefront of itself, with the spectator's alignment with Rocket pushing that message through. Moreso, Rocket's casual demeanour is the biggest reminder that the characters in the film are completely influenced by their setting, and are not naturally inclined to crime, with Rocket's eventual associations with the gangs, and attempts at robberies, indicting the all-encompassing plague-like nature of the criminal environment, and the clear lack of immoral inclination within Rocket. Rocket is also emblematic of the frequent use of non-professional actors throughout City of God, for ultimate realism, so his performance is completely naturalistic, and doesn't draw attention to itself. Within that comes the idea that a good performance should not be noticeable as performance, as a character should be formed instead, but City of God subverts this by using actors who come from the favelas to toy with the idea that these actors aren't even performing much at all, just drawing from their own experiences and bringing that to the film, making City of God a film less about the favelas and more from the favelas themselves.

In Ida, performance is used to open up closed-off characters, with both Ida and Aunt Wanda, as the two focal points of the film, requiring a lot more than conversation to reveal themselves to the spectator. For the character of Ida, this is most prevalent in the two nunnery scenes, one at the beginning and one near the end of the film, where, quite simply, the devolution of Ida's faith and newfound cynical perspective of the world, through Wanda, are demonstrated through her performance in comparison to the other nuns. The unified composure of the nuns in the first scene, which Ida conforms to, barely standing out if it was not for the camera's focus on her, completely contrasts her humourous breaks from uniformity in the scene's opposite. Ida's realisation of the comic silliness of the world of her nunnery, most pertinently with the silent, synchronised eating, allows her character arc to develop her into an individual person, one which the spectator can now draw a connection with, as Ida becomes an outsider in the world she thought she belonged with. The use of comedy in her performance to exemplify this is crucial in bringing forth the resilience of the Polish people in an oppressive post-war society. Ida's status as a Jewish nun explores the idea of a loss of purpose in religion when something as great as the Holocaust can happen, and, rather than overbearing the spectator with melodrama or heightened emotions, Pawlikowski's chosen insight into Ida comes through a physical and visual dissonance between her and the other nuns. Furthermore, the use of a non-professional actor in Ida serves as a reminder of the realism of her situation, in spite of comic elements, where her inexperience at being an actor mirrors her character's inexperience at being an individual out in the world: in both cases they develop beyond their statuses as outsiders to the new world they occupy.

With the character of Aunt Wanda, her performance does the opposite of Ida's, still providing insight into a character who rarely speaks about their feelings, but never reaching a point of development, instead committing suicide. The consistency of Wanda's performance, as a cold, dry, and desensitised individual, becomes important as different cracks in her borderline-nihilistic demeanour are shown through performance. Her ardent ridiculing of Ida's faith, and her lack of confrontation with her past, culminate in Ida's influence on her being minimal, besides Ida seemingly being a cure to Wanda's loneliness, and to her longing for her family back. However, where Ida represents resilience in post-war Poland, Wanda represents prolonged suffering and depression, from both the guilt of the Holocaust, and the economic depression unaided by the Stalinist government. Within these contexts. the performance of Aunt Wanda takes on the incomprehensible grief thrown at the spectator over the course of the film, by demonstrating just how detached Wanda has become. In the moments where she does show emotions, where she cries with the bones of her family in her hands, and before he imminent suicide, her insensitivity towards Ida is shown to be from a place of emotional overwhelming, as she doesn't have the tools to overcome her grief and her guilt. In these moments, performance is used to say the unspoken, and convey the themes of the film, without leaving a realm of subtlety: even Wanda's death is sudden and exploitative. Bringing this together, Wanda is then used as a counterpoint to Ida newly discovering the world, where Wanda has been defeated by the weight of her own past, Ida is nearly crushed by the uncertainty of her own future, with both performances therefore representing Poland in the 1960s, which the film is all about.

Overall, in both City of God and Ida, performance provides a space for filmmaker's to convey meanings by connecting the spectator to the story, and by consciously engaging them with the emotions of each character. In City of God, this works to bring the favelas to life, but also to display a multi-faceted version of it, and in Ida, this works to create a portrait of 1960s Poland through the people within it, and understand the intersection of history and the future. Performance provides a human element to film which no other feature can, and so is essential for conveying meaning.