Introduction
On the Waterfront is one
of the most powerful films of the 20th century. Elia Kazan, the director of the
movie, perfects every aspect that can be put into the mise-en-scene to make
this movie as moving as it is. The actors and actresses put their heart and
soul into every single line to make us feel every struggle and pain the
characters feel. All of this comes together to create one of the greatest films
of all time.
The mise-en-scene in On
the Waterfront comes together flawlessly to make the movie very realistic and
emotive. The setting of the movie is extremely important to the overall effect
of the movie; rather than use a set and create a fake shipyard, for example, Kazan
makes use of a genuine shipyard in Hoboken, New Jersey, and uses normal clothes
as costumes. Dark, dimly lit scenes, such as the scene where Terry and Edie are
running down the alleyway while being chased by a truck, are made especially
powerful by their lighting. By making the scene have a low key light, Kazan
creates a high contrast with lots of shadows that heightens the ominous mood.
The focus is placed on the headlights from the car chasing them, creating a lot
of suspense for the audience, until the car passes and the focus is immediately
shifted onto Terry’s brother Charlie, hanging on the wall. All of these
emotions are enhanced throughout the film by the dramatic musical score by
Leonard Bernstein, which establishes feelings of suspense, to feelings of
achievement at the end of the film. Kazan creates the perfect atmosphere to
literally “set the stage” for the film.
The dialogue in this
film also adds to the true emotions and realism of the film. The phrases chosen
in the script are period accurate; the characters use normal slang and language
rather than specialized fancy dialogue. Soon after Joey is introduced to the
audience by Terry saying that he had one of his birds, Joey gets thrown off the
roof. He gets called a canary, which means that he testified and “sang like a
canary” against the corrupt bosses. He told on them, but “…he couldn’t fly.” In
the next scene, Mr. Friendly (who has a very ironic name, but there’s no room
to go into that right now,) calls the late Joey a “cheese-eater,” implying that
he was a rat. This kind of intimidation and exploitation of anyone who followed
their conscience and did the right thing was the reason why so many workers
kept “D&D,” and acted like there was nothing wrong with what was going on.
Pigeons were especially
important and symbolic in the movie. They were used to symbolize the workers
who informed the juries on the corrupt actions of the bosses. These workers
were called stool pigeons, who stooled on their “friends.” Before the church
meeting, Charlie explains, “Stooling is when you rat on your friends. Johnny
wants a favor, don’t think about it, just do it.” The workers were trained to
keep deaf and dumb when it came to the bosses’ actions; since it didn’t
directly affect them, they were trained not to say a word so nothing would
happen to them. The pigeons also have another symbolic value. They are waiting
to fly and know that they are meant to fly away, but they are kept up in a cage
and trained not to do what they are meant to do, just as the workers know what
is right, but are trained not to rat on anyone.
The scene in the car
with Terry and Charlie is one of the most famous movie scenes of the 20th
century. The close up camera angles capture Terry and Charlie’s expressions,
while the sad music adds to the heart wrenching emotion of the scene. Charlie
insists for Terry to take the job and keep quiet to make decent money.
Meanwhile, Terry knows it is the right thing to do to tell the jury about the
corrupt actions of Friendly. Charlie urges his brother to just take the job and
ignore what is right to keep a steady life for himself, but when the camera
uses a close up shot to just place Terry’s face into it, we see Terry’s
emotions as the light strings play a minor arrangement and we hear his story about
how he could’ve been something if his brother had encouraged him to fight for
himself, literally and symbolically.
Whiskey and beer have
important significance in the film. When workers died for doing what they
believed was right, they were acting as martyrs. Jesus died so that we could be
saved from our sins, and shed his blood to give us freedom and eternal life.
The drinks symbolize freedom and communion. When Charlie is found dead, Terry
and the priest share a beer, symbolizing drinking the blood of Jesus, and
symbolizing the freedom that Charlie died for. K.O. says that all he wants is
some whiskey in the beginning of the film, and is later crushed by cases of it,
ironically, as if he is being crushed by the freedom he craved and went after.
The music,
cinematography, dialogue, and emotion that come into play in the film all join
together to create a masterpiece that became one of the most iconic films of
the 20th century.
No comments:
Post a Comment