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400 Blows to Our Differences Throughout human history, earth has been considered the only known planet on which the human race can survive and exist. Countless people have lived on earth since the beginning of human existence and still continue to live. Thus, people who have lived or still live on earth are all different from one another, even if they may have common views, ideas, tastes, or appearances. In my opinion, it is these differences that make us who we are, because if we were all the same people, like copies of each other, our existence and being human would have no meaning, and only one person would be enough for the world. In my opinion, this is exactly why, in this world where everyone is completely different from each other, today's oppressive and compliance-driven education system which is created by assuming that everyone has equal conditions, the same perspectives, abilities, interests, and tastes, and which excludes the different ones, sees it as defective or forces them to comply, is completely wrong. The 400 Blows, which our course teacher made us watch for the first time during my high school years, is a 1959 French film by François Truffaut, which criticizes this education system that ignores the fact that everyone is different from each other, and reveals the problems and events that can cause one by one if it is not accepted that everyone is different from each other. Moreover, in the film The 400 Blows what is worse is the fact that this system is not only maintained in education, but also in all social structures such as family and society. On the other hand, even though it was shown in the film that was shot years ago how this could cause problems and why it was wrong, I think that this oppressive system, which is still stubbornly maintained all over the world even today, and which accepts that everyone has the same conditions and character, is, unfortunately, nothing but a tragedy that continues to be created consciously. The 400 Blows, originally titled Les quatre cents coup, directed and scripted by himself in 1959, is the first feature film of François Truffaut. The original title of the movie "Les quatre cents coups" comes from the French expression "Faire les quatre cents coups" which means "live a wild life" (Jacobson). The 400 Blows, which was shot away from aesthetic concerns, is the first film noir I have ever watched. Since I like to see the harmony of colors, nature scenes filmed in long shots, and painting- like scenes while watching films, until my high school years, even though I knew it was a negative personality trait, unfortunately, I was quite biased towards noir films, and thus, especially I would always avoid watching them. However, The 400 Blows, which our high school course teacher had us watch to show us what we should not do if we become educators in the future, is the film that made me realize that neither the colors nor aesthetically shot scenes mean everything to a film and that I can also enjoy noir films. On the other hand, the movie "400 Blows" is much more special for me in terms of both the first black and white fiction I watched and the plot in which the same problems are criticized that exists in even today's world. The 400 Blows, originally titled Les quatre cents coup focuses on the life of a 12 years old Antoine Doinel who lives in Paris. Antonie is a child who is constantly humiliated and despised at home on the grounds that he is not a normal child, so he does not feel like he belongs anywhere, moreover, all the work of the house has been pushed off on to this child, unfortunately, he is a child forced to grow up as so young. On the other hand, Antonie is studying in a male-only middle school, even if he has an interest in literature, his academic career is quite poor because he is not properly motivated by his teachers. Moreover, he is constantly punished and humiliated by his oppressive and authoritarian teachers for failing to comply with the system. 12-year-old Antonie, who is constantly excluded by society everywhere, often lies, steals from his family, always seeks ways to escape from school because he hates school, and what he wants most is to see the sea he has never seen. One day, Antonie, who ran away from school with his best friend Renee, who was just as excluded as he was,
takes us on a tour where we understand the consequences of this authoritarian system and the reason for all his bad behavior. In this journey we embarked on with Antonie, the director hits us all with the facts one by one. In the movie The 400 Blows, although, François Truffaut criticizes the French family structure, society, and education system of that period, I think, unknowingly, he also made heavy criticism of today's world. The director makes this criticism through a 12-year-old Antonie who was considered to be defective as he is different, therefore, excluded and being ignored not only by the system, and society but also by his family and teachers. In my opinion, the fact that Truffaut made this criticism through a 12-year-old boy is the factor that increased the effect of the movie on the audience the most. Because, while watching how a child is treated, equated with adults, and constantly punished just because he doesn't fit into the system, it becomes completely impossible for audiences not to face the facts, and feel nothing. While François Truffaut made his criticism quite openly in the film The 400 Blows, he also supported this criticism with the allegories, symbols, and metaphors he added to his fiction. On the other hand, I think the most important factor in increasing the effect of The 400 Blows on the audience is the cinematography used by Truffaut. The reason for this is that Truffaut's shooting techniques, camera angles, and movements offer an experience from the young child's point of view and involve the audience in the film. Thus, the audience, who also becomes the protagonist of the film, identifies with the character by experiencing the events first hand, and even if they have not experienced such a life, by experiencing that life, they not only empathize with the character but also understand much better the psychology which was created by the society. For me, while the biggest drawback of Truffaut's The 400 Blows is that it is a black and white film, however, the natural lighting used in the film and the scenes shot on the streets, most of the time offer better mise-en-scène than many color films I have watched which made shattered my prejudices towards black and white films one by one. On the other hand, both non-diegetic and diegetic sounds in the movie are one of the key factors that make the movie much more impressive for me. The reason for this is that the fiction, in which we are mostly included from the point of view of the character, offers a much more real experience with the sounds in the flow of the film, and gives a much more intense feeling with the instrumental tracks, which change its rhythms according to the plot of the films. At the beginning of the movie The 400 Blows, with a dramatic instrumental track, François Truffaut shows us the Eiffel tower with a shaky camera effect in a long shot, then we watch the Paris images taken from different angles as the scenes pass by with the tracking camera movement as if the director wants to show us where we live with these Paris scenes. The next scene continues at school, first, we see a boy writing in his notebook with a dutch-angle with a close-up shot, then the boy who takes out a record album from under his desk gives it to his friend sitting in front of him. In the scene we watch filmed with panning and tilting combined with a medium shot, the album is passed from hand to hand to Antonie. The teacher, who had not seen any of the students until then, calls Antonie to the blackboard by shouting when Antonie hands the album to his friend. In this scene, as we jump from our place with the suddenly rising voice of the teacher, we realize that the teacher has literally conditioned himself to catch this little boy's mistake because Antonie is the one who is different in the system and stands out immediately. In my opinion, François Truffaut wanted to convey through this scene that the oppressive and compliance-driven education system does not care how different children are from each other, and with the routinized education they give, the children who cannot adapt to the system and have other abilities are ignored by their authoritarian teachers. In the scene that continues with Panning with a medium-long shot, we see that this is true, because when we
As a result, the movie The 400 Blows, in which I watched Antoine's life, is not fiction for me because this movie I watched shows a reality from life. Even today, this oppressive education system applied all over the world does not accept how different we are from each other. While judging the rose for being a rose, congratulates the daisy for being a daisy, whereas they both flower, only the rose needs more care to bloom, if ignored it will wither away, but if you pay attention, it will give you perhaps the most beautiful flowers you will ever see. On the other hand, in addition to the issue that François Truffaut criticized in The 400 Blows, the cinematography he used brought the film to a very different point for me, because The 400 Blows, the first black and white film I watched which destroyed all my prejudices towards black and white films. The director, who destroyed my prejudices with the scenes he shot from Antoine's point of view, increased the effect the movie had on me even more in this way. In my opinion, all parents and teachers should watch the movie The 400 Blows, which clearly shows the error of the system, maybe something will change in this way. REFERENCES JACOBSON, JAY, jaysclassicmovieblog. December. 2020 web. 28 01 2022 As Mom’s Food: Loveless Every view in the history of humanity has its opposite, but there is only one view that everyone has in common: Air, water, and food are necessary for a being to survive physically, which, in my opinion, are not enough to survive completely. All living things on earth need to love and to be loved in order to survive. Human has the highest consciousness, among all living things, therefore they are conscious of their existence and they carry the heavy burden of being human on their back like a sack. On the other hand, it is this love that alleviates this burden, which makes being a human bearable and gives the motivation to continue in life. The love that makes life meaningful begins between mother and baby in the womb before the baby is born, this love ensures that the baby can continue its life both physically and mentally in a healthy way in the future. In my opinion, the love that is the subject of many movies, TV series, and books that have been written and drawn on can only exist if it is lived, so love can only be shown by learning, and it is impossible for an individual who has not received love to show love, maybe it can be imitated, but it can never be fully known. Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev shows in his movie Loveless/Nelyubov that one cannot be completely a human without love, and what a tragedy living loveless life can lead to.
The 2017 Russian film Loveless, originally titled Nelyubov, is the fifth, 127-minute feature film of Russian director and screenwriter Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (TMDB). In the film Loveless, he reflects the problems on the screen as they were, without softening them. In the film, mainly he criticizes social media addiction, Russian society, the regime in the country, the policies followed, and the relationship between religion and politics. He makes these criticisms, sometimes openly, and sometimes in the subtext of the film, which he supported with metaphors and symbols. On the other hand, in Loveless, Zvyagintsev portrays the destruction caused by systematic lovelessness and lack of communication, both in the nuclear family and in every layer of society, unfortunately, this portrait is a depiction of not only Russian society but also the modernizing world. While watching Loveless, the director makes you a part of the film and allows you to witness all the events to confront you with the fact that you are a part of the existing problem. Therefore, I think someone who watches Loveless no matter what part of the world they are from can feel like watching not only the realities of Russian society but also the realities of the society and country they are in. Moreover, as he makes this confrontation over a "child", which is probably a subject that most people are sensitive to, and by this way, he completely prevents you from making an excuse sentence that starts with ''but''. That's why I think, someone who will watch this film, needs to have nerves of steel. Andrey Zvyagintsev's film Loveless focuses on the life of a middle-class family in Moscow. Zhenya and Boris Sleptsov, who are in the process of divorce, are a couple who hate each other to death and are full of anger towards each other. Their 12-year-old child, Alyosha Slepstov, was despised and unloved from the moment he was born by this toxic couple. The parents, who create alternative lives for themselves with other people, are in an argument unaware that Alyosha, whom they see as an obstacle in their lives, hears everything; Alyosha, who witnessed everything, has grown up with the feeling that he is not wanted throughout his life, but when this reality becomes concrete, it becomes unbearable for him and he runs away from home. Mother and father are so focused on their own lives that they realize the absence of Alyosha a few days later and start searching. Loveless is a film that embodies its name, the lovelessness in the film can be seen and felt so much that you feel suffocated while watching it, but unfortunately, the reality of the modern world is this disease that we call lovelessness. Loveless may sound pretty mundane in terms of the script and the issues it tackles. We have all watched Hollywood productions that deal with similar stories, but unlike Hollywood, Zvyagintsev does not give the audience an absolute end that talks about where the missing child is, and how he was found because his aim is not to comfort the audience. He aims to show the reasons and issues behind the child's disappearance, therefore, he does not solve the scenario and leaves uncertainties in the minds of the audience so that the audience can think and realize the reasons behind the problem and what the problem actually is. Zvyagintsev tries to create awareness in the minds of the audience, and, in order to create this awareness, he uses a story taken from real-life supported by his cinematography. I think the best thing about Andrey Zvyagintsev's cinematography is that he does not make the scenes synthetic at all and reflect them onto the screen as they are, without dramatizing or artificializing. Zvyagintsev usually uses wide angles and mostly static camera shots in Loveless, and although, he usually makes scene transitions with direct cuts, it does not create any disturbing situation. Zvyagintsev generally uses low-key lighting along with the dark atmosphere which, I think, makes the message of the film Loveless more effective on the audiences. On the other hand, the colors Zvyagintsev uses generally symbolize different views and ideas which helps him to make the story of the film multilayered. Moreover, Non-diegetic and diegetic sounds that are mostly used together give the film a depth to create a perception of real life. For me, every scene in Loveless is in great harmony and there is not a thing added extra for no reason. Therefore, when I consider
I can say that the next scene was the most heartbreaking scene among the films I watched. The camera first shoots while Zhenya going out of the bathroom with tilt movement with panning, then as she closes the door, Alyosha's silently crying face heartbreakingly appears in front of us. While the voices of the couple, who continue to argue behind the closed door, continue to be heard, we realize that Alyosha actually overheard the whole conversation from the very beginning. The reality that, like Alyosha how many children maybe have overheard behind closed doors that they are unwanted by their families, makes us appalled. As the camera continues to shoot with the master shot, Zhenya goes to the bedroom, then we see Alyosha breaking his silence this time while sobbing in his room, later Boris who is laying on the sofa in the living room shows up on the screen, first he checks his phone, and then falls asleep. Three different scenes, and three people as if they are not a family, living in the same place like strangers to each other, this is what lovelessness creates. In a scene opened with a full shot and high-key lighting, we see Alyosha's body from behind sitting on the kitchen table with his shoulders down and his head bent forward, while Zhenya, even if she is standing directly in front of Alyosha, does not look at the boy's face even once and is interested in her phone. With a medium close shot, the camera focuses on the face of Alyosha, who says he won't have breakfast and has his hand over his eyes. For the first time, Zhenya turns her eyes to the little boy, but her attention is still on her phone and she was able to type something without even looking. Then as if Zhenya doesn't want him to give her any trouble she asks if he is sick, but Alyosha says that he is okay while covering his face with his hand to hide his tear, but there is no need for such an effort because Zhenya is so loveless towards him that she will not see him even if Alyosha cries his eyes out. Then the little boy leaves the house, descends the stairs, and disappears never to return. In the next scene, we are now in Boris's car, and there is a radio show about doomsday coming. In the film, which we understand that the year is 2012 (also the year of presidential elections), this radio program is full of references. From the radio show, we understand that the media is no longer a free press organ and is under the monopoly of the government, the director especially states Leningrad also will vanish with doomsday (presidential election day) to call for socialism. Zvyagintsev also makes a reference to the decaying national security who is supposed to protect the people, but now only protect the government (this is the real apocalypse for society), by stating that in this radio show the apocalypse will be on December 21 after Police Day. In the scene that continues in the elevator, we realize that we have come to Boris's workplace when we see soulless people in suits. As Boris lifts up to the 5th floor (the floor where murderers are tortured in Hades, and in Dante's hell, those who betrayed his family and country are punished), we go to Zhenya. This time, Zvyagintsev clearly conveys his message through people who have buried their heads in their phones and are only able to smile at their phone's screen. Unfortunately, this is what social media makes us, people who know each other only on screens but totally strangers in real life. As the movie continues, we watch the lives of Boris and Zhenya in a parallel plot. In the following scenes, Boris's colleague appears with the metaphor of the oligarch. In Boris's life, Zvyagintsev criticizes religious favoritism and the mutual interest relationship between politics and religion. On the other hand, In Zhenya's life, Zvyagintsev criticizes the plutocracy and kakistocracy in the country, through Zhenya's employee's daughter who thinks studying is unnecessary to become a politician. Later in the film, we watch Zhenya's relationship with her rich boyfriend Anton (Oligarch metaphor), and Boris's relationship with his pregnant girlfriend Masha (selfish). In the Loveless, Zvyagintsev heavily uses the symbolic meanings of colors to give messages such as blue, red, and black as a means of Christianity, fascism, and socialism. On the other hand, the frequent use of the phone in the film is disturbing, but considering real life, the fact that perhaps the phone takes place in our lives much more than what is shown in the film is rather more disturbing. However, the fact that hurt me the most, all this time is that they never included Alyosha in their lives, neither before nor now. They are so focused on their
own lives that they don't even realize that Alyosha hasn't been around for 2 days until Alyosha's teacher calls them. In the second half of the film, we watch the search efforts of the volunteer team, the reason for this lovelessness, and the decaying system of Russia. The police that Zhenya called openly states that they cannot help as there is a lot of crime despite limited resources for searching, so he recommends them to seek help on the internet. While the police added that the volunteer search team is not affiliated with the state, it works free 24/7 and does not have bureaucratic obstacles, we are once again shocked by the fact that the public now has to do the duty of the state. As the movie progresses, we see that Zhenya is so loveless because she has never been loved, and this lovelessness is a disease she inherited from her mother. Moreover, Zhenya's mother is as loveless as Zhenya because she too was left loveless and never learned what love is, and unfortunately one cannot teach someone what one does not know. With the changing scenes, we watch the volunteers' search for Alyosha. However, they come up dry and, as if that was not enough the search in the forest stops due to the deteriorating weather conditions. While the missing signs are being started to distributed and hung everywhere by volunteers, we see people who pass by without a glance at these missing signs, which reveal how usual these signs become in Russia. As we come towards the end of the movie, we are now in a morgue. In the scene that opens with a medium close shot, we see Zhenya and Boris standing side by side. When the coroner reveals the body, Zhenya and Boris begin to cry in shock but say it is not Alyosha, as Alyosha has a mole on his chest, and his fingers, hands are different from that body. However, Ivan tells them they might be refusing to believe so they should have a DNA test done. Until that moment, the truth, which we do not want to believe slaps us in the face with the corpse we see only for a slight moment because there is nothing that can be identified in the mutilated corpse and it is probably Alyosha's body. After Ivan's words, with Zhenya attacking Boris ravingly, and Boris sobbing at the ground, we understand that it is really Alyosha. When we come to the end of the movie, now 3 years have passed. Zvyagintsev shows us the lives of Zhenya and Boris in a parallel plot, while we think that maybe something might have changed after Alyosha, we see that unfortunately, a leopard cannot change its spots. With the scene that opens, we first watch the life of Boris, black propaganda is made against Ukraine about the Ukraine-Russia war on the TV news, on the ground we see Boris and Masha's child playing and making noise, at that time Boris takes the little girl in his arms. While we also smile at the laughter of the child, we are shocked with Boris who throws the child into the cradle, as the little child's laughter turns into crying, the last word that she says is ‘’mom’’ which she cannot get any response. At the end of the scene, we choked with the emotion that may be another child will share the same fate as Alyosha. Later, we move on to Zhenya's life, same news on the TV, with the close-up shot, we see the unhappy faces of Anton and Zhenya. As the camera switches to Zhenya, who is interested in her phone, we realize that the only change in Zhenya's life is the model of her phone. The camera with panning movement follows Zhenya while walking, after she is out of our view, a few moments later, she comes with her jacket written Russia on it, and then she goes out to the balcony. She then starts running on the treadmill, gasping for breath. Later, as she turns off the treadmill, the static camera with a push-in starts to close Zhenya's face and when she raises her head our eyes meet. I think this scene is one of the peak moments of Zvyagintsev's cinematography. In the scene where we make eye contact with Zhenya, the director breaks the fourth wall between the audience and the character, then, shows us, we are complicit in this crime, like Zhenya, as we have become accustomed and normalized to all this. He wants to show that the movie we are watching is not just fiction, but that we are actually witnessing our own lives. At the beginning of the movie, the barrier tape that Alyosha threw into the tree appears as the only trace he left behind in the last scene.
