25th August 2017

3.9 Internal

The first scene of the film The Lady is set in Rangoon, 1947. At this time Rangoon is the capital of Myanmar (Burma). In this scene, General Aung San is leaving to work, for an important meeting. As Aung San leaves he places a single light pink flower in Aung San Suu Kyi’s hair. This shows love and appreciation that she is still alive. A mid camera shot of Aung San Suu Kyi is taken, as light is directed on her face. This creates a soft effect on her cheeks to portray a very youthful look. She also has a pink flower behind her ear which was placed there by her father. This represents love and hope between the two characters, which is shown throughout the film. She has big wide brown eyes that smile as light from the sun hits her eyes. This shows that the director was trying to portray that she is a very a calm, content, safe and happy child.

This is the last time General Aung San will see his family. His daughter awaits in the seat which he left her in for the whole day, sleeping in the sunshine. This shows how much she loves her father. No matter how long he is at work for she will wait for him.

Once he arrives at the main government building he goes into a room full of men who are supportive of his decisions. The atmosphere is very enthusiastic about seeing the General. There are diegetic footsteps as he walks into the room. His shoes are hitting the marble flooring with the heels of his shoes showing that he has some hierarchy over these men. None of the other military men’s shoes make noise as they have rubber based soles. This provides the audience with knowledge of how different people dress in the country based on their status; this relates to the western world as people dress differently depending on how much money they earn or have. In the meeting room there are many high-pitched voices to show excitement as he enters. The quote “The main priority is to form a government” said by Aung San, provides the viewers with enough information to show what this group of men were agreeing/ talking about. Unfortunately, there are hidden outside military members through his forces. This meant the outside group had access to inside information that they were not meant to know. Without the general ever finding out. These group of men have been given the instructions to assassinate General Aung San, these military men wear a red scarf as a symbol of dedication to their country. These red scarves also show the blood of the people that they assassinate. The three colours of this military group are green, white and red; with every camera shot they are in so are these colours. It is a strong representation of this group because when Aung San Suu Kyi is in the camera shots without these men, none of these colours appear as she is not part of the outsiders militarily group.

As the men enter the room there are fast drums with high-pitched flutes to enhance the anticipation of what is about to occur. The first person to be assassinate is General Aung San. Just before the gun is fired there is a camera shot of him with his eyes closed. This camera shot shows how calm he his knowing what his fate will be. The audience can see the sweat on his face which shows that he was also petrified of these men. This shot connects to Luc Besson, Cinema Du filming technique. The director, Luc Besson wanted to portray how intelligent, powerful and calm this man was in his time. He had the ability to talk to someone through his eyes rather than his voice. The general did not show his fear because that would show the military men that he was struggling. If he had shown fear it is more than likely that the military would have gone to his family and assassinated them as well. In the aftermath, two men with blood on their hands had to tell the wife the news, who went into shock immediately. The red blood symbolising the military men with scarves, we know the wife knew what type of people had murdered her husband as no one else would have done it in that period of time. The last shot we see in this scene is Aung San Suu Kyi sleeping in the chair under the sunlight waiting for her fathers return with her pink flower sitting behind her left ear. This mid camera shot is related to the Cinema Du look because in this moment we see calm in her face, just like her father in the moment just before he is murdered. This shows that she will be like him when she grows up, father like daughter.

Through the first scene of the film ‘The Lady’, we learn that Her father was a very strong man and he worked hard for his family to have more freedom than he ever had when he was a child. We see how he cares for her beautiful daughter when he has a few minutes with her every day. He captivates her attention from the big wide world as we see the search in her eyes for something new to explore. Her father’s influence has a large impact on how she is in the rest of the film. Aung San is very important in the country and he was trying to make it a better place for people to live. He loves helping people with his powerful words and being positive most of the time.

 

The second scene in ‘The Lady’ is based in a small village out of Rangoon. In this scene, Aung San Suu Kyi is going to speak to the people of this small village to tell them her intentions and why they should vote for her in the ballot. The first thing we see at the beginning of the scene is the red flag that represents “The national league for democracy”, which is written on the front of the flag. This is a wide shot to show the whole flag and where it was hanging. It was at the front of the building showing the importance of the democracy. In this shot, there is red, green and white showing the colours of the other military group with the red bandana. This represents that they might be going to appear in the scene negatively.

As the camera moves we see a mid shot of the armed men jumping out of four-wheel drives. The male in charge yells, “No public meetings allowed!” with his rotten teeth showing in a close-up shot. This means that all the people excited to hear from Aung San Suu Kyi don’t get to hear what she has to say. Instead, they are shocked with what comes with her popularity, the armed forces protecting their democracy and trying to destroy hers. This shows their insecurity about how important, strong and well known her democracy has become. This group feels very threatened about what is going to happen in the voting. The camera does a pan shot of the people of the village standing along a walkway either side clapping on the entrance of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Everyone is clapping for her but she hasn’t turned to take in what has just occurred down the street. The camera shot that is used to see all the people is a zoom out from the delicate hands of Aung San Suu Kyi. This shows that her hands are important to the people as they want to touch them, some sort of trust between people in their culture. All the women in this shot are wearing colourful clothing and flowers in their hair just like their leader. As she makes her way up the podium she looks at the military men. The commander makes two lines of military men to shoot her if she speaks or even makes a move. A wide shot is used to show all the men who are standing with weaponry. All of them look down so they make no eye contact with anyone to avoid emotive connection with the target. This shows that these men don’t actually want to kill the people they are told to, they might only be in the job for the pay. The commander has a lot of men to try to control one woman who would go down if there was only one military person with a gun. But this woman has so much power through how she is as a person no one wants to get rid of her. This is because she effects everyone that is living in Burma at the time. The people who are to shoot her won’t because they look guilty and scared even before they hold their guns up at her.

Aung San Suu Kyi decides to continue because she knows that the men either side of the commander won’t actually shoot her, as she can read their emotions quickly. However, she also knows these men will shoot the other people so makes them wait behind for safety measures. A close-up shot of her face is shown as she walks slowly through the first set of men. This shows she can captivate other peoples minds to think she is no harm without speaking, which is the truth. During this ceremony, she wears pink flowers in her hair to represent her father, as he placed a flower in her hair as a little girl.

The most significant shot in this scene when she is right in front of the commander with his gun pointing directly at her forehead. A close up of her face is shown with her eyes shut and the calm emotion is portrayed just like when her father did the same thing all the years before. We see the drops of sweat on the side of her face showing the fear of what could happen to her in a few seconds. However, another commander yells for all military members to stand down. We see the immediate relief on her face, at the same time she lets out a large breath of air. As she turns we see the sweat on her back. This was created in the dramatic fear with the fact she could have been killed the same way her father was by the same people. This shot connects to the Luc Besson, Cinema Du filming technique because it shows the repetition of the same portrayed feelings and emotions; petrified, fulfilled relaxed, calm and content in the father and daughter who barely knew each other but are so alike. Aung San Suu Kyi shut her eyes to show her petrification, she is so terrified of her life ending right in front of the people who have worked with her for so long. The director wanted us to be able to see her in the direct light. While only the commander was speaking but his voice is in the background, so that Aung San Suu Kyi is the main focus. This is done through a close-up shot of her walking, stopping and closing her eyes.

In this scene of the film ‘The Lady’ we learn that Aung San Suu Kyi has grown up to be just like her father. She has found love and build an amazingly strong family, but also wants to help change her country for the better. She returns to Myanmar to help support the ‘National Democracy’. From this scene we know she has become a very strong person and would give anything up to help her country, even her husband who stood by her side for many years before passing away. She became so much like her father she nearly died the same way but was saved by a commander who told the outsider military to stand down. She made such a huge impact with the one move that people started playing out the scene to show people what happened, and laughed about how she survived.

Join the conversation! 2 Comments

  1. Bella, the “impact” of this analysis comes through the judgements you make about what the viewer learns from the combination of film techniques. In many places, these judgements are detailed and developed-
    Well done. However, there are some under-developed statements which you could explain clearly. For example, you talk about the representation of the military and how they “might be going to appear in the scene negatively”, however you don’t really explain the purpose of this representation. Watch these isolated statements and make sure that all of your ideas and connections are clear. You have two lessons left.

    Reply
  2. Bella, please read through this response today and…
    – Strengthen the technical accuracy (spelling, punctuation)
    – Ensure that your summary about what the viewer learns/the purpose of the techniques is clear and persuasive- specifically relate to the auteur style of the director.

    Reply

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