1) Relate
what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.
During the class lecture for Three Kings, we spoke a lot about
how the film is serious, but still has a comedic air. Amidst the ending of the
Gulf War in 1991, the nature of Three Kings is cataclysmic to say the least.
Yet, I was able to get a few laughs in between. What gave this heart-rending
film its wings was its pure and unadulterated moments of truth as wives cry out
for help and are murdered, young children are forcibly handled and beaten, and
an entire nation of people are fighting for their freedom and rights to live.
These people are the ones who get labeled as crooks for deciding to fight
back…not always right in their mindset to release greater amounts of pain back
onto their abusers, but always right in knowing they are human just like
everyone else and they have rights. Aside from the parts in the film that made
me want to cry, I’d say the comedic air popped its head out with the big bold
sans-serif typeface for a title, commonly used for media or the Internet.
In addition aspects like the light hearted dialogue and even the
interjections to introduce the characters in the beginning of the film are all
techniques used when making a sort of comedy. Coming to this conclusion made me
think about theater and scenic design. Usually, if there is a set on stage that
has many doors… it is most likely going to be a comedy. The atmosphere created
in the beginning with dialogue, jokes between the army men, the music and
partying as the main characters were introduced all seemed shared with a common
comedic formula. Furthermore, I felt as though the use of close ups intensified
both comedic and horrific moments and events within the film. For example, some
of Ice Cube’s funniest lines were when the camera was zoomed in to focus on his
facial expression. Other times like in the beginning of the film when the one
was waving the flag was shot, or when Troy was crying for Conrad really added
to the already existing atrocities. Even the close up of the father and
daughter’s hand clutching the mother’s (wife) hand worked well to intensify the
moment.
2) Find
a related article and summarize the content.
The article that I chose for this blog post is
“Fighting the Battle of Money and Greed“ by Janet Maslin. The article starts by
giving some history of David O. Russell’s successes as a writer and director.
Although Maslin doesn’t feel like Three
Kings, Russell’s most recent film at the time that this article was
written, is better than some of his other works, it is still writhing with humor,
truths, and mayhem. One of the most interesting aspects of the article is how
Maslin hones in on the camera work done in this film. Maslin boldly compares
Russell’s camera techniques to “music-video camera styles” (Maslin, par.5), and
I must agree to the fact that Russell did very well in his vision of shooting
the film. Judging by the film, he seemed to be in a mindset to get the most
accuracy out of every shot and the most intensity in every moment. The article
was rather short, so Maslin closed out on a powerful note cluing the readers
into the way Russell leads his viewers so calmly into the ideas and concepts of
the film that started it all. Going from a frat-style party after ending the
war, to having Mark Wahlberg’s mouth be forcefully opened to guzzle oil (or
what looked like oil) all because a man confessed that the Americans had killed
his baby boy. Riveting!
Maslin, Janet. "Fighting the Battle of Money and
Greed." The New York Times. 1 Oct. 1999.
Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
3) Apply
the article to the film screened in class.
I have to start off by saying that Janet
Maslin was right… David O. Russell did a phenomenal job shooting Three Kings. I loved a lot of his
techniques. The article mentioned above was short, but it was very truthful and
confirmed my reasons for absolutely loving the film. I do not watch a lot of
war films, but this one was amazing. I looked up the cinematography of the film
and viewed the frames of the film from beginning to end. Not only was it
astounding to me that there seemed like a good mix of medium, long, and close
up shots, but the deep focus in the film is really good as well. In my
research, what makes a film such as this one work so well when shooting is a
lot of light and low aperture and I feel this is done well on Newton Thomas
Sigel’s part. Everything is close and personal… in one’s face from the
journalist’s cameras and the sweat rolling of the men’s faces to the bullets
coming out of the gun and going through a body. Russell stuffs the audience
right there beside the soldiers until they are as uncomfortable and afraid as
everyone else in the film.
4) Write a critical analysis of the film.
To me, everything comes full circle in this
masterpiece. I could feel the rage of the war still emanating off of the
soldiers as the movie opens up on celebrations of the war ending, but by the
time the film gets to the part when Mark Wahlberg is taken, Russell is able to
turn the tables and send one of the most powerful messages of how everything in
the end becomes obsolete… what are we all fighting for? However, I do think the
men answer that question when trying to get the many people they rescued over
the Iranian border. The men portraying the American soldiers in this film
ripped my heart out, but they did it with grace, honor and courage. At the same
time that I was sad and on the verge of tears, I felt alive as well. And with
nothing left to say I am going to end this last post here with some of the
words from Archie Gates…
The way it
works is, you do the thing you’re scared shitless of, and you get the courage
AFTER you do it, not before you do it.
––Archie Gates, Three Kings
1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any
other class.
2) ( x ) If I reused any information
from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in
the paper.
3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put
quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the
text.
4) ( x ) I have not padded the
bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of
the paper.
5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the
pages I personally read.
6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases
where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the
paper and in the bibliography.
7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct
quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have
been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
good. 10/10
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