City Of God: Close analysis of opening scene (and one other)
CITY OF GOD opening In the title sequence of City of God, we begin to see a picture of rocket through bars, which not only foreshadows the ending of the film but it also hints how the camera will become a significant symbol in the film. Further, straight away in the opening of the film we perceive a montage of visuals with a high contrast of lighting, that keeps to blue tones, thrust upon the audience with the cuts matching on the action and seemingly dancing to the diegetic sounds of the sharpening of a blade on a stone. Also, there's instrumental latin music along with chickens being killed and food being prepared for a cook out. The miss-en-scene and collection of sounds combined give the audience instant recognition of possibly a street market in a South American locale, which establishes the Brazilian culture. This seemingly all comes from the point of view of a chicken, which the editing constantly cuts back to, looking around its environment and seeing its imminent demise