In City Of God mise en scène is important in the story of the
apartment scene. The scene is a montage scene that shows the decay of an
apartment in the fevellas used to sell drugs from. The apartment is owned by
four different people, Donna Zelia, Big Boy, Carrot and Blackie, over a period
of twenty years. At the beginning of the scene the apartment is shown as very
clean and neat and it s also owned by a woman, named Dona Zelia. The apartment
is shown like this to show that at the time life in the fevellas was a lot
cleaner because there was less drug usage. Dona Zeloa is then thrown out of the
apartment by Big Boy. This shows that women in the fevellas do not have a voice
or an opinion. When Dona Zelia and Big Boy first have the apartment a filter is
used to make the apartment seem a lot brighter but as the apartment changes
hands the apartment slowly becomes duller and darker. This shows that the
apartment has gone from the home of a mother to a drug den. In the scene when
Big Boy is telling carrot that he has to kill his friend Aristotle low key
lighting is used to show how carrot doesn’t want to kill his friend but has to because
in the fevellas it is kill or be killed. The whole scene fits in with the
recurring motif that a big fish will come and eat the little fish because every
drug dealer that is using the apartment gets taken over by bigger and more
powerful drug dealer.
Mise en scene and
sound are also important in the story of Lil’l Ze. The story of Lil’l Ze starts
when he was Lil’l Dice at the motel robbery. In this scene you see Lil’l Dice kill
for the first time. When Lil’l Dice kills for the first time it is different to
when other people kill for the first time. This is because when you see other characters
kill for the first time, like carrot, they close their eyes or look away and
wince when they pull the trigger. When Lil’l Dice kills he laughs at the fact
he has killed people. This shows that Li’l Dice has been desensitised to violence.
After this we see Li’l Dice and Benny sitting on bricks outside the city of
god. The bricks in this scene signify the foundations of the city and by
sitting on them it shows that Li’l Dice will become a major power in the city
of god. We then see Goose show up and take money away from Li’l Dice and Benny.
When Goose is doing this he slaps Li’l Dice. As this happens you see a close up
of Li’l Dice’s face and you hear a very high pitched noise in the background. This
shows that Li’l Dice is angry with Goose and won’t let him get away with
hitting him. You then see Goose jump over some bricks to leave but is then
called back by Li’l Dice and shot. This shows that Goose got close to being
able to leave the city but was called back by being offered a gun. This fits
with the recurring motif that you cannot escape the city of god and the hoodlum
lifestyle.
