Garrett Morrow
A film set in South African community called inga, this means dog. The film starts off showing the sandy setting including a flag pole, a dog, and a white house. The boy, who looks to be our main character, has a knife he (probably) should not have which he uses on the flag pole rope to make a collar for his dog. This entire scene is quiet but with really detailed sound emphasizing the actions that he’s doing, such as cutting or playing with the rope. We then approach another scene where we see our first white person who appears to be of power yet appears to have a connection with the boy and the dog. He asks the boy to put the dog in a bag where he then abuses the dog by kicking the bag. The camera is revealing the boy who is devastated. When the he is asked to then open the bag, the boy knows exactly what the plan is. The dog thinks that it was the boy who was kicking the bag which emphasizes how devastating it truly was for the boy. Some time passes with the boy using the flag pole, shown at the beginning, and you can tell this is troublesome and heartbreaking for the boy because it reminds him of the dog. Later on, the boy, who is now grown up now, is away from the house and the man appears to have a heart attack, causing him to drop his gun. It should be noted that the dog, the man, and the boy are the only ones in sight. With the man on the ground and the dog confused, the boy tries to give the man his meds. When the boy does this the dog doesn’t let him touch the man, due to the past. The man utters the words, “Shoot the dog.” The boy is now troubled by this idea because he still likes the dog, even though the dog is barking violently at the boy for trying to help the owner. He doesn’t shoot the dog. Overall, this film contains very little talking yet the talking that is done is in a foreign language with subtitles. The audio and visual is what carries this entire story. It is a lot of close ups on the faces of people showing their reactions, like with the boy all of the times he is sad. Even though it is in a different language, anyone can understand it because the camera work is focusing on showing the body language. Furthermore, we can understand what the boy is doing because of all the sound. We can really hear the footsteps, the ropes, the petting of the dog, and the barking – all of this noise is very prevalent in this film. If you just heard the film without seeing it, you could probably figure it out. You just won’t feel any of the emotional attach meant with the main character.
The characters are introduced only when needed and with the idea to advance the story being told in this film. And they are all introduced as if we already know them and were seeing them in the middle of their daily life. This is very similar to the movie Indiana Joneswhere we meet characters the same way although the movies are so vastly different.
We learn from the flag being up on the flag pole that this film was set in South Africa. And this information becomes so important for us to understand a bit more of why these events are happening the way they are in the movie inja. This is also the case in Indiana Jones, we learn the movie takes place in the how desert like tomb, and this is done just by seeing the sand and the idol. Which are props just like the flag.
The film makers in both movies use shots to show emotion. We see the boy sad though close ups for the moments with the dog abuse. And we also see this in Indiana Joneswhen the assistant guy gets killed. We get really close to him and that makes the movie tenser.
The editing in these two movies are vastly different. Indiana Jones is a fast-paced action film. And injais an emotional slow movie meant to show a lesson on karma. Both were edited in a way to enhance the story. The fast movie comes with fast confusing cuts to feel chaotic. And injagets a good sense of the setting with its cuts.
The strong moments of the movie are both centered around emotion and suspense. You want Indiana Jones to get the idol and you want the boy to be friends with the dog again both movies focus on emotion.
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