The Woman King Film Analysis
Jared Guy
14:07 – We see a close up shot of a body covered with a cloth of some sort with a object on top of it used as a calling card. Boots in the background barely walking up to the dead body as if they are walking up to a mess that they need to clean up.
14:10 – The boots kick the body and the close up continues, we see the body is a woman's body, the film wants to emphasize that the body is a woman.
14:12 – We see a match to action cut to a medium close up shot of the men responsible for kicking the dead body. We can see the expression on their faces, they look disappointed in the fact that it is a woman that has defeated them.
14:25 – Another medium close up shot of the men very disappointed in the fact that they have been defeated by women. Emphasizing their anger. We hear non-diagetic string instruments playing dramatizing this moment. Simultaneously we hear diagetic audio of one of the men saying, “Your comrades were murdered by women... The Dahomey grow to bold under their new king.”
Makes you wonder who their king is, who are the women warriors serving so faithfully.
14:37 – Non diagetic music stops from last scene. The hook cut from the last shot, left us wondering who the men were referring too as the king. Who is the king? “The Hook” cut to a medium close up shot of the kings back, In the foreground we see the back of the king and the background we see beautifully perceived women rising at the sight of him.
14:43 – We see a medium close shot of the king continuing to walk , this time we have a front facing view of the king. The king is in the foreground and in the background are all the women he has passed. Displaying all the women that are for him.
14:45 – Eye line match cut of what the king is looking at as he is walking, and it's a medium close up of two women that are percieved to be the most beautiful out of all the women. The close up of the women is to emphasize their perceived beauty. Also, to display the respect they have towards the king.
14:50 – We see a medium close up of the king grabbing the hand of a woman, and it seems like that might be the person he is most interested in but he continues to walk and he continues to stare off at someone else. We see the king in the foreground and the woman who’s hand he grabbed in the background slowly fading away in the background, she is in shot and she seems upset.
.jpg)
14:53 – We see the king in the fore ground and Nanisca in the Middle ground and the other women in the background staring as the king walks away with Nanisca. The woman that is perceived to not be as beautiful as the others. Why though?
14:58 – Nanisca and the king go out of frame, and they walk off together to talk, they are now offscreen. We are now at a long shot of the other “beautiful women,” left there staring at them as they walk away, they are in technically in the background, because none of them are the focus. They are obviously confused
I think that the breakdown of this scene is very clear, and you do not necessarily have to watch the movie to understand the scene. I think the first shots of the scene emphasizing the males faces that were shocked that they were defeated by a woman could be a movie shift and steers the audience towards the fact that woman can be very powerful in their own ways. The other part of the scene is when the king chooses the "least attractive" person between all the woman that where there for him. I think that this could highlight the fact that not everything needs to be perfect or one with the crowd for it to stand out. Coming from a king though, I am surprised he went with his option and the movie probably tells you why eventually.
ReplyDeleteVery good analysis and breakdown of the movie, I think you could add more shots of close ups to show what was happening in those points as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis of the movie's description. The way the men were struck by how a mere woman could defeat men portray that in this culture its thought as men were the strongest and could not be overcome. This gives a great moral towards certain audiences and empower woman watching this movie.
ReplyDelete