City of God opening scene analysis

The opening scene of the 'City of God' immediately grabs the attention of the viewer with exceptional use of thematic editing. Fast paste clips of a butcher sharpening a knife, accompanied by Samba music, extreme close up shots of a drummers hands beating the drum and a chef cutting and skinning carrots. The audience are then shown short clips of a chicken tied up and this is repeated along side shots of a butcher skinning the feathers of a chicken that was beside the tied up one. This is continuously repeated till the chicken manages to free its legs, in which it then proceeds to flea.

This opening part of the scene created was full of fast paste, tense and dramatic scenes hinting at the murder of the chicken. This was fairly simple for the audience to infer combining the shots of a live chicken, shuffling in fear contrasted against the butcher cutting the dead ones. The scene was only made up of diegetic sound. Samba music was the formed the base of the scene but the director had also chosen to time the actions of the characters to the music to give the intro more of a rhythm. Along with the music were the sounds of a match box being struck, flesh of a chicken being cut and the scraping and chopping of carrots. These actions specifically times helped give the scene a fast pace and the use of only diegetic sound also made the scene feel like it was much more local and happening in the area. After the chicken has freed itself from the butchers pile. The music in the scene stops. The pace suddenly slows down and becomes real time. This gives the audience a sense that the movie has properly started, and considering the circumstances we previously saw the chicken in, the audience then wonder where the chicken is going or what's going to happen.

After the chicken wonders around for a short while, a man notices the chickens escape and signals his gang. A medium paste beat immediately kicks in as the chase begins, however this beat is made from non diegetic sound, it has no relevance to the scene as the sound is off set but it fits the tempo of the chase which exaggerates how focused the villagers are on catching the chicken. This is furthermore supported by the fact there were lots of villagers chasing this one chicken, but they were also armed with pistols. This is confuses the audience as they are left in askance, as to why there are so many people chasing one chicken and why are they armed with guns, and this foreshadows violence being a key part of the movie and there being more to come.

After a few clips of the villagers chasing the chicken, we are then drawn to two young men walking, one of which we later learn is the main character, the music has stopped and the busy environment replaces it. The director has done this to show that the two men are away and separate from the chase. This is supported by the next shot, which Is back to the chase, the beat begins again as the chase continues, leading to a main road where the chicken is almost hit by a car. The next part combines the two men previously shown with the chicken, surrounded by gun men. The audience are left at this cliff-hanger as we then proceed to a flash back to the start of one of the men's journey in which he is playing football.

This introduction is extremely effective as it immediately draws its audience in with action-packed clips, then the use of ending on a cliff-hanger makes the audience want to know how the main character was led to this circumstance and therefore watch the movie.