Paris (South Africa & Brazil)
Immediately after watching these two movies I noticed that they give a very different view of Paris then the did. Where the American film gave us a perspective of an outsider looking in, I feel these two gave the view of insiders. These people actual live in Paris and we get to take a glimpse at what life is like for them. I don't want to claim that an American view from a tourist perspective is wrong, it just looks at the polished tourist parts of Paris. Looking at it from the view of someone living there gives us a view of the other side of the coin.
The South African film shows us Paris through the eyes of a man, struggling to get by, in what appears to be a less then desirable part of Paris. He meets a girl who he sets out to get a cup of coffee with. Mistaking another girl for her, he ends up being stabbed by her friend and them meets his girl as she turns out to be an EMT. In this film I feel as if even though the man does live in Paris he is shown to be somewhat of an outsider. Not it a tourist way, but rather that he is unwanted. He is fired from his job, blown off by a girl and then stabbed. This could perhaps be what the director feels it'd be like to be an immigrate in Paris, struggling to get his foot in the door. Or perhaps the effects of poverty in Paris? The man attempts to be happy and keeps an overall positive outlook even after being stabbed. Eventually he does meet the woman he was looking for, and leaves an impact on her. This women could represent Paris and his efforts to woe her could represent his attempts to make it in the city. His song he sings could represent his positive attitude and effort to make it as well.
In the Brazilian movie we see a women who we first see setting a child down to bed and attempting to calm it to sleep. She at first walks away from the child, but comes back to it as she hears it crying. After calming her she is forced to rush to her job in a wealthy family home watching their child. I think the the women putting down her child to take care of another across Paris shows her struggle in a real way. There are two children that need caring for, she is forced to not take care of her own but someone else in order to survive. She is forced to put something she loves aside to make ends meet. The film depicts her tearing herself away from her own child, and we can see that it hurts her to have to do it.
Both films give us an inside look at struggle within Paris. It gives us the point of view from the people that make Paris, Paris. We can see and connect with their struggle.
The South African film shows us Paris through the eyes of a man, struggling to get by, in what appears to be a less then desirable part of Paris. He meets a girl who he sets out to get a cup of coffee with. Mistaking another girl for her, he ends up being stabbed by her friend and them meets his girl as she turns out to be an EMT. In this film I feel as if even though the man does live in Paris he is shown to be somewhat of an outsider. Not it a tourist way, but rather that he is unwanted. He is fired from his job, blown off by a girl and then stabbed. This could perhaps be what the director feels it'd be like to be an immigrate in Paris, struggling to get his foot in the door. Or perhaps the effects of poverty in Paris? The man attempts to be happy and keeps an overall positive outlook even after being stabbed. Eventually he does meet the woman he was looking for, and leaves an impact on her. This women could represent Paris and his efforts to woe her could represent his attempts to make it in the city. His song he sings could represent his positive attitude and effort to make it as well.
In the Brazilian movie we see a women who we first see setting a child down to bed and attempting to calm it to sleep. She at first walks away from the child, but comes back to it as she hears it crying. After calming her she is forced to rush to her job in a wealthy family home watching their child. I think the the women putting down her child to take care of another across Paris shows her struggle in a real way. There are two children that need caring for, she is forced to not take care of her own but someone else in order to survive. She is forced to put something she loves aside to make ends meet. The film depicts her tearing herself away from her own child, and we can see that it hurts her to have to do it.
Both films give us an inside look at struggle within Paris. It gives us the point of view from the people that make Paris, Paris. We can see and connect with their struggle.
interesting point about insiders---because at the same time, they're obviously outsiders, right? Whereas the tourist desire is to somehow be inside.... interesting tension between the two visions.
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