Chinatown
As a classic detective movie, Chinatown involves a "hard-boiled" setting and a private investigator. The story takes place in Los Angeles, California during the 1930's. The mood of the film is typical of that of a detective story, and the gradual discovery of clues completes the film's mysterious atmosphere. Though the detective myth is at first followed, Director Roman Polanski quickly deviates from the typical story line. Instead of gaining more control over the situation through clues and increased knowledge, our detective falls more deeply into the web of helplessness. The wrongdoing in Chinatown is not limited to one person. Instead, an entire society revolves around an individual whose level of evil greatly outweighs any one man's quest for justice.The one man, in the case of Chinatown, is J. J. Gittes, a "typical" private eye. His cool and calm attitude matches his suit and clean-shaven face, indicating a businessman who is always in control. As the audience might expect, Gittes was o
As the movie continues, Gittes's surrounding evil increases until it reaches a maximum in Chinatown, the location of the last scene. At the end of the film, the viewer is quickly transported to Chinatown through shots of signs and flashing lights. Next, the camera follows J.J. Gittes and Noah Cross, the source of evil, out of a car and onto the sidewalk. The background noises of an outdoor urban setting create a distortion as Gittes is confronted by a former fellow police officer. At this point, the placement of Gittes and Cross on the screen, compounded by the concurrent arguments of both men, suggests conflict to the viewer. Next, as the lieutenant tells another officer to lock Gittes to the steering wheel of his car for "withholding evidence," the camera follows Cross to his daughter, Mrs. Mulwray. What follows is an up-close struggle between Cross and Mrs. Mulwray. It ends with a gunshot to Cross's arm and a wide-screen view of Mrs. Mulwray speeding away in her car. In the end, the viewer sees a dead Mrs. Mulwray and a
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Approximate Word count = 693
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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