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　　Shaoyi Wang
　　Final Exam #2
　　Group B (2)
　　FREN50
　　Prof. Jones
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 The back of the moon
　　　　　　 No one can tell what Frenh cinema is, however, everyone can say a few words about what French cinema means to him/her. According to the unproved date and the common sense, the possible description from people to French cinema are more likely to be: artistic, gentle and stylish. However, to “La Haine”, no one will be able to cover its impulse up by such adjectives. This is a film which was widely hailed as making the beginning of a new chaper in French cinema history. Its uncommon representation of the level of French society abandons the traditional rhythm of French cinema, instead, it tend to remix French cinema by its own ideology. However, nothing comes from nothing, as the brand new beginning of the history of French cinema, “La Haine” doesn't only creat the future, but also inherit the cream of French cinema.
　　　　　　 First of all, the major difference between French cinema and Hollywood movies is that French cinema doesn't only attach importance to the story, but also to how to tell the story. In a short, French cinema concentrate both on contents and structure. The narration of　“La Haine” follows the time sequence which is 24 hours after one of the three protagonists' friends was attacked by policemen. The timer that appears once in a while is very similar with the trick in “Cleo de 5 a 7”. In “Cleo de 5 a 7”, almost all the scene are filmmed in　real time to share the　protagonist' feeling with the audience. That means we experience what the protagonist experience at the same time. In “La Haine”, the time narrative sequence is designed as the compresion of 24 hours and the refinement of life. It increases the speed of the film and highlight the mood which is tence and rapid. In French cinema, sometime, the narrative sequence, or the structure, is much more important than the story itself.
　　　　　　 “La Haine” is a rapid pasting of　a 24-hours' life pieces of Vinz, Huber and Sayid. Day after day, they act like vagrant and fool around on streets. They promote the hate toward the policemen and the system. This is not a fresh subject matter to French cinema. “A Bout de souffle” mainly represents the life of a vagrant in Paris. However, the protagonist Michel in　“A Bout de souffle” is decipting as having a casual and elegant personality, although he has an occupation which is exactly the same as what Vinz has in“La Haine”. Another similarity of “A Bout de souffle” “La Haine” is that they are both films about a gun. Both of Michel and Vints get a gun accidentally, however, life is satirical: Michel, the one just wants to enjoy his carefree life,　killed a policeman under accidental situation; While Vinz, who carries his hateful mind all day long and　plans to kill a policeman all the time, gave the gun up and got shot by policemen accidentally. The expanding of events in French cinema emphasizes the accidental possibility of life, and it certainly increases the possibility of the direction of films.　
　　　　　　 The color in “La Haine” is symbolic. The entire film is represented in black-and-white. For a film which was made　in 1995, black-and-white is not just about the technique, but also part of the plots. In “La Haine”, all these youngmen on the streets face the extreme situation which is either good or bad, either right or wrong, either black or white. Policemen and hoodiums behave similarly, the whole world is a big mess. We are not　able to tell any grey zone between the “good or bad” scale.　Thus, the color in “La Haine” actually highlight the ideology visually.
　　　　　　 The ending of　“La Haine” is one of the most interesting parts of the film. Vinz wanted to kill a policeman insanely, but he finally gave up. However, right after he gave up the gun, he was attacked by policemen and killed by mistake. Hubert was the one who against the blind hate, but at the end, he became one who point to a policeman by the gun. The switching over of roles and ideas expresses the wavelike life and conscious that young people usually experience inside and the endless hate between these two extermities. At the time that Huber and the policeman pointed each other by guys, the film was suddenly cut to black. It leaves us an open ending, just like the one in “Les 400 coups”: Antonio faced the camera and the world of audience directly, then he posed still forever on the screen. For such endings, no one can tell what exactly happened after the last scene, even the filmmakers themselves. However, instead of having no ending, open ending films get the possibility of thousands of endings.
　　　　　　 If assuming French cinema as the moon, the contents in　“La Haine” is as secret as the back of the moon. It had never be seen before the moon turns around and shows its back. The revelation of the back of moon doesn't destroy people's impression to its beauty, anything but, it fulfills the figure of the moon and deepens our recognition into its world of conscious. “La Haine” as the back of French cinema, it preserves the humanism ideology of French films when it break through the traditional expression and narration and combine different essential factors together to establish a brand new style and open a brand new future for French cinema. At the moment it leaves us an unknown ending, it also leaves French cinema the possibility of developing and establishing. “La Haine” presents us the dark side of French society for the first time in the history of French cinema,　but it won't be the only chance to discover the back of the moon.
　　

　　Shaoyi Wang
　　Final Exam #1
　　Group A (2)
　　FREN50
　　Prof. Jones
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Youth in War
　　　　　　　　 For fiction films, both of youths/childhood and war are the eternal subject matter, and it's always expressive to have them both combined together. The cruelty of war and the fragility of youth deepen the representable plots to the unseen kernel and contrast sharply with each other. Noticeably, instead of increasing the probability that youth faces war directly, most of the fiction films tend to embed the story into the specific era, or assume it accompany with the historical period. Both of “Les Roseaux sauvages” and “Au Revoir les Enfants” are the combination, but not the battle, of youths and war. However, according to the different emphasis on representation, “Les Roseaux sauvages” is much more qualified for the concept of youth fiction films than “Au Revior les Enfants”.
　　
　　　　　　　　 According to the comprehensive analysis of Margaret Mead, each country has its own style for fiction films of youth/childhood subject matter. Italian films emphasize that “children are the saviors”. British films put effort on describing the faith of children to adults. American films mostly encourage children in the conscious of freedom. And French films concentrate on “arousing the youths/childhood”. Obviously, French films focus mostly on poeticizing the life-like details. “Les Roseaux sauvages” is such a film, which depicts the olden times romantically. The basic melody of “Les Roseaux sauvages” is brisk and bright, although confusion and self-contradictory will never be absent from youths. The war is more considered as the side dish, or the assisted witness of the protagonists' youths. Serge's brother died in the war, but he was the one who said “ there's something much harder than the war, it's the life that passes by”. Instead of constructing the social environment, or highlighting the war, “Les Roseaux sauvages” concentrate its attention on expressing the common feeling of youths: the candid conversation and the sensitive heart. Among the protagonists, Francios express all these feeling centrally. He acts as a go-between among Maite, Serge and Henri. For life, they have their own decision and belief. However, when sex and politics enter the youths, their life was crashed by the society. It's the time to be survivors in both war and life for their youths, which is as fragile, and tough, as the reeds.
　　I'd rather consider “Au Revoir les Enfants” as the purity and beauty under the pale horror. Compared to “Les Roseaux sauvages”, although it's a film about children, “Au Revoir les Enfants” is not supposed to amuse the young audience. The introverted mood and the powerful criticism is hard for them to enjoy. However, although “Au Revoir les Enfants” is a film about WWII and the massacre, but it was filmed under the mood which is sorrowful, touchable and beautiful. We don't see any violent or bloody scene through the entire film. It rebuilds the life as detailed as possible and pulls the war behind to support the mystic style. “Au Revoir les Enfants” is film about discovering. Julien doesn't only discover Jean's secret, but also discover his life and the war. As we first step in their world, children in that catholic boarding school behave exactly the same as ordinary kids, however, following the expanding of the plots, we realize the war is behind every scene. Unlike “Les Roseaux sauvages”, in “Au Revoir les Enfants”, the war is a major secret which is waiting for being discovered behind the scene.
　　Fiction films that represent youth/childhood in war is like lighting up the candle in the wind. It's fragile but beautiful, sensitive but strong. The vivid comparison between youth/childhood and war is always attractive to filmmakers. However, no matter how to arrange the plots, grasping the position that war takes part in youth/childhood is one of the keys to the success.
　　
　　Shaoyi Wang
　　Final Exam #2
　　Group B (2)
　　FREN50
　　Prof. Jones
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　The back of the moon
　　　　　　　No one can tell what French cinema is, however, everyone can say a few words about what French cinema means to him/her. According to the unproved date and the common sense, the possible description from people to French cinemas are more likely to be artistic, gentle and stylish. However, to “La Haine”, no one will be able to cover its impulse up by such adjectives. This is a film, which was widely hailed as making the beginning of a new chapter in French cinema history. Its uncommon representation of the level of French society abandons the traditional rhythm of French cinema, instead, it tend to remix French cinema by its own ideology. However, nothing comes from nothing, as the brand new beginning of the history of French cinema, “La Haine” doesn't only create the future, but also inherit the cream of French cinema.
　　　　　　　First of all, the major difference between French cinema and Hollywood movies is that French cinema doesn't only attach importance to the story, but also to how to tell the story. In a short, French cinema concentrate both on contents and structure. The narration of “La Haine” follows the time sequence, which is 24 hours after policemen attacked one of the three protagonists’ friends. The timer that appears once in a while is very similar with the trick in “Cleo de 5 a 7”. In “Cleo de 5 a 7”, almost all the scene are filmed in real time to share the protagonist' feeling with the audience. That means we experience what the protagonist experience at the same time. In “La Haine”, the time narrative sequence is designed as the comparison of 24 hours and the refinement of life. It increases the speed of the film and highlights the mood, which is tense and rapid. In French cinema, sometime, the narrative sequence, or the structure, is much more important than the story itself.
　　　　　　“La Haine” is a rapid pasting of a 24-hours' life pieces of Vinz, Huber and Sayid. Day after day, they act like vagrant and fool around on streets. They promote the hate toward the policemen and the system. This is not a fresh subject matter to French cinema. “A Bout de soufflé” mainly represents the life of a vagrant in Paris. However, the protagonist Michel in “A Bout de soufflé” is depicting as having a casual and elegant personality, although he has an occupation, which is exactly the same as what Vinz has in “La Haine”. Another similarity of “A Bout de soufflé” “La Haine” is that they are both films about a gun. Michel gets a gun accidentally as well as Vinz, however, life is satirical. Michel, the one just wants to enjoy his carefree life, killed a policeman under accidental situation; While Vinz, who carries his hateful mind all day long and plans to kill a policeman all the time, gave the gun up and got shot by policemen accidentally. The expanding of events in French cinema emphasizes the accidental possibility of life, and it certainly increases the possibility of the direction of films.
　　　　　　The color in “La Haine” is symbolic. The entire film is represented in black-and-white. For a film, which was made in 1995, black-and-white, is not just about the technique, but also part of the plots. In “La Haine”, all these youngmen on the streets face the extreme situation which is either good or bad, either right or wrong, either black or white. Policemen and hoodlums behave similarly; the whole world is a big mess. We are not able to tell any gray zone between the “good or bad” scale. Thus, the color in “La Haine” actually highlights the ideology visually.
　　　　　　 The ending of “La Haine” is one of the most interesting parts of the film. Vinz wanted to kill a policeman insanely, but he finally gave up. However, right after he gave up the gun, he was attacked by policemen and killed by mistake. Hubert was the one who against the blind hate, but at the end, he became one who points to a policeman by the gun. The switching over of roles and ideas expresses the wavelike life and conscious that young people usually experience inside and the endless hate between these two extremities. At the time that Huber and the policeman pointed each other by guys, the film was suddenly cut to black. It leaves us an open ending, just like the one in “Les 400 coups”: Antonio faced the camera and the world of audience directly, then he posed still forever on the screen. For such endings, no one can tell what exactly happened after the last scene, even the filmmakers themselves. However, instead of having no ending, open ending films get the possibilities of thousands of endings.
　　　　　　 If assuming French cinema as the moon, the contents in “La Haine” are as secret as the back of the moon. It had never been seen before the moon turns around and shows its back. The revelation of the back of moon doesn't destroy people's impression to its beauty, anything but; it fulfills the figure of the moon and deepens our recognition into its world of conscious. “La Haine” as the back of French cinema, it preserves the humanism ideology of French films when it break through the traditional expression and narration and combine different essential factors together to establish a brand new style and open a brand new future for French cinema. At the moment it leaves us an unknown ending, it also leaves French cinema the possibility of developing and establishing. “La Haine” presents us the dark side of French society for the first time in the history of French cinema, but it won't be the only chance to discover the back of the moon.