My Best Film Essay
In the film ‘The Power of One’ the director John .G. Avildsen used facial expressions to show the impact on the victim in the scene. In the scene when the boys bring P.K into a room where they kill his chicken. When P.K is brought into the room you can see the his sadness when the sentence his ‘Kafka chicken to death’. This showed the impact of P.K watching his chicken be killed by Botha. You see how upset he is and angry with Botha which is why he pushes Botha over onto the flag. The director purpose was to show the impact and how P.K felt when he was made to watch his chicken die. It made us have a connection with P.K and feel bad for him. The facial showed the upset and how ‘the lonely birds came back’. Facial expression combined with camera angles like close ups help us get more of a feeling than a long shot. It would be better to do a close up on P.K’s face as shown to let us see clearly how he felt and how much it hurt him. This reminds me of when P.K when Maria died and the director used facial expressions to see how devastated P.K was when maria died. This was shown through the look on P.K’s face and a close up was used to see his emotions and facial expression clearly.
In the film the director also used with facial expressions camera shots like close ups as mention in the last paragraph.In the scene when P.K is lying in bed pretending to be sleeping and one of the caregivers came in and told him his mother had died, the director used a closeup on his face to see this emotion. The impact was shown when P.K lying there after the caregiver tell him thinking he was asleep that his mother had died. In the darkness the director used a close up to see how he felt after hearing the bad news. The director did this to see how P.K felt after already not liking it at the school his mother dying while he was away. This made us as the audience feel bad and upset that P.K had to go through this at a young age. With camera shots you can combined them with lighting. The lighting made it seem like night and they were meant to be asleep. The lighting made it seem sadder because it was a sad moment for P.K. This reminds me of when Geel piet and Sergeant Boorman scene when Geel Piet had to eat poop off Sergeant Boorman’s shoe. They used a close up to show Geel Piet eating the poop off his shoe and how he had to do it. It made the audience feel for him because if he didn’t he would be beaten.
In the film the director also used with facial expressions camera shots like close ups as mention in the last paragraph. In the scene when P.K is lying in bed pretending to be sleeping and one of the caregivers came in and told him his mother had died, the director used a closeup on his face to see this emotion. The impact was shown when P.K lying there after the caregiver tell him thinking he was asleep that his mother had died. In the darkness the director used a close up to see how he felt after hearing the bad news. The director did this to see how P.K felt after already not liking it at the school his mother dying while he was away. This made us as the audience feel bad and upset that P.K had to go through this at a young age. With camera shots you can combined them with lighting. The lighting made it seem like night and they were meant to be asleep. The lighting made it seem sadder because it was a sad moment for P.K. This reminds me of when Geel piet and Sergeant Boorman scene when Geel Piet had to eat poop off Sergeant Boorman’s shoe. They used a close up to show Geel Piet eating the poop off his shoe and how he had to do it. It made the audience feel for him because if he didn’t he would be beaten.
Another important technique used was lighting which was mention in the last paragraph. This was used in the scene when one of the caregivers hit Botha across the face and there is lightning on one half of his face and the other doesn’t it. The impact was shown by the lighting giving a mysterious look to Botha and how he was disappointed in what he did not ashamed. This showed the audience how mean and nasty Botha is. The director did this to show the true Botha and how he would do it again if he had the chance and that he was going to blame it on P.K and that is was his fault. When lighting is combined with dialogue it can make the scene even better. When Botha gets hit across the face the caregiver says in Afrikaans you moron. Which showed that he wasn’t impressed with what they or Botha was doing.
In the film the director also used symbolism. One of the symbols were a ostrich bracelet which was very important because it was passed down from P.K’s father to his mother than from his mother to P.K and then P.K gave the bracelet to Maria. The bracelet was a symbols of love and how P.K loved Maria and P.K loved his mother and his mother loved his father. This made an impact shown through symbolism because it was repeated. At the beginning of the mother it was expanded to the audience how important the bracelet was and then when it was passed down it went through 2 generations. The director used this to show the connection between the characters and how they love each other and they all needed each other. This helped us see how much they loved each other.
Other Essay
In the film ‘The Power of One’ shows us lots of amazing life experiences, which P.K goes through. In the film the director used visual and oral text to show this. I am writing on a character which I think is important to me and reveals to me in the text. I have chosen Maria because she is a wonderful character and has an important role in the film. Throughout the film she becomes connected to P.K and they fall in love which is shown by P.K going to see Maria at her house, P.K giving Maria his Ostrich bracelet and when they are teaching the people to teach others.
1S. Firstly this is one of the reasons why I choose Maria.
E. P.K wanted to see Maria but Maria was banned from seeing P.K so one night P.K climbed up the fence which was lying against the side of Maria’s house which led up to the window he secretly meet up with her. This was because he wanted to see Maria because he loved her and wanted to make sure Maria was okay.
X. This made us feel the love between Maria and P.K and how they are going to change South Africa together.
X. The director did this to show the connection between Maria and P.K and how they need each other and can’t live without each other.
X. This was shown well with dialogue because she was excited but nervous to see P.K because she didn’t want to get caught and they almost were.
Y. This was like a scene in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo goes and visits Juliet even though he knew if he got caught he could die and wouldn’t see Juliet again.
2 S&E. With P.K sneaking to Maria’s, later on P.K gave Maria a special ostrich bracelet which symbolised the connection between Maria and P.K, which was passed down from P.K’s dad to his mum, then from his mum to him and know to Maria.
X. This showed to connection and the love between them which had been created and the fire inside which would never go out for each other.
X. The director did this to show the audience the love and connection between Maria and P.K. This made the audience feel and see the love between Maria and P.K.
X. This worked well with symbolism because the ostrich bracelet was a symbol of love which was shown in this scene in ‘The Power of One’.
Y. This reminded me of when P.K’s mother have it to P.K when he had to go to boarding school when she was sick.
3S. The last reason why I think Maria is a great character which reveals to me is because ...
E. when she died she was trying to teach the Africans to read and write so they can teach other but the police came in and attacked them and hit Maria over the head with a baton which killed her instantly.
X. This made me feel my heart drop because we could see how devastated P.K was when he saw Maria lying on the ground dead.
X. The director did this to show how P.K’s heart was broken again and the connection between and how strong it was.
X. This went well with dialogue because after P.K says that ‘The lonely birds returned’ Which showed that he had lost everyone he loved.
Y . This reminded me of when his mother died and he felt the lonely birds then and now.
This is why I choose Maria as my character which revealed to me throughout the film. Like when P.K went to she her because he hadn’t seen her for a couple of days, P.K gave Maria the ostrich bracelet and when Maria dies. This is why Maria was an amazing character in ‘The Power of One’ to write about her connection with P.K and the way it was shown.
