Exam Question.

'It is vital to understand the social and political context of films'. How far do you agree with this in relation to the films you have studied for this topic?

I agree with the statement to a certain extent as I believe that films that look at social and political issues/events are used to inform and educate the audience. I would say that in order to understand a film, the audience should know a bit of background information, but the film should allow them to understand the social and political context in more depth. From the films I have studied I have seen that they show a side to the audience that they never normally see, which means they are getting a better understanding of the issue/event. Even if the audience doesn't have much understanding of the social and political context to begin with, by the end of the film they are more informed and understanding. However, if the viewer is completely oblivious of the social and political issues raised in the film, then the message of the film would be a lot harder for the viewer to comprehend.

In the film La Haine, directed and written by Mathieu Kassovitz in 1995, follows the story of three young men after riots in France. The film is based on true events in France and focuses on police brutality against lower class people. The film touches on major political and social issues through out the film, such as the difference between the upper and lower class and police corruption and brutality, which was the main cause of the riots. At the beginning of La Haine, the film opens up with footage from the riots in France. The audience see's the violence that took place and the damage that was caused by it. From the start the audience understands that the riots were a major part in Frances history due to the pure scale of the events shown on screen. However, because the film starts with scenes from the riots, the viewer may be unclear as to what is going on and why it is happening. This means that it is quite crucial for the audience to understand the social and political context of the film as they need to know why they are seeing the things that they're seeing. This is important for this film in particular because the audience is being seen the events following the riots and not before or during.
However in the film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles in 2002, the audience is shown the lead up to how things got so bad in Rio. The film is based on the conflict around drugs within Rio but the focus is on the characters and what ultimately ends up happening to them. This film is too based on a real event which is important, but unlike La Haine we are shown the background story leading up to the events. Although there are social and political issues that the audience need to understand and acknowledge, they can still follow the story without it. City of God doesn't rely so heavily on the social and political context to tell the story where as la haine does.

In conclusion, from the films that I have studied, I would say that it is not vital nor non-essential to understand the social and political context but it depends on what message the film wants to get across and what it wants to achieve.