jewdarican

Fantastic Documentary, drama, comedy and realistic piece of work. I just saw it recently, and am disappointed i haven't seen it earlier. So by now i could of watched it at least 3 times. When i first sat down i thought it was just based on dancing, of course i was wrong.

This movie touches every aspect in NYC life and maybe all over the United Sates school district. What i loved is the foreign kids that we get to see in their home environment, growing gradually and learning the New York culture while dancing to their own music. The documentary also shows us sentimental aspects from the people who actually helped the kids. Kids could also see this and connect with the kids comments when it comes to growing up and the trouble, and choices they face. After the movie it made me want to get up and DANCE! Recommended for ALL.

This movie is a sure classic. Vasquez manages to touch many aspects in society. When dealing with race, jobs, and friendship he makes it easy to put it all in one day. There are many movies that consist in one day, but not all of them are successful. Vasquez manages to make every character totally different. Though 2 of them are Puerto Rican and the other two African American, each one has a strong role opposite to the same race as them. This is big part in the film since tension comes from everyone, and not just racially focused on the typical black and white. The filming is good also with night on night shots that depict a true night life in New York. Vasquez used slow close ups at points for tension and meaning. I really looked forward to more from this director also writer of the movie. It is rare we get voices that relate to a movie behind the scenes of it.

I will show that the director Murnau uses the sounds of the bells, as key points to the main characters actions. Murnau took this symbol, the sound of the bells, and used it as a synecdoche. He made them have a purpose throughout the whole movie, metaphorically acting like a hypnotist that snaps a person into a trance in and out at anytime. As the movie started out, the setting was very dark and spooky in a way. In the shot when the man and mistress first met up. The mistress and the moon are the key factors in this shot metaphorically. The mistress acting like a hypnotist's vixen, and putting a trance on him to kill his wife. In addition, this glowing moon acting as a symbol that helps the dirty deed. Kind of like a watch that a hypnotist holds in front of his patients. It was not until he goes home the next day that this trance takes affect. While the man was dreaming or as he wakes up, he heard the first bell ring. As he woke up, I could instantly see the change in his attitude and body language. The bells ringing just snapped him into the killer that his mistress wants him to be. Now he is on his mission to kill his wife with no emotions at all, almost like a zombie even. Murnau even shows the mistress in his head over him like a demon almost, expressing how the man feels at this time of stage. He uses the use of the external world to show us this demonic plot. There was even a barking dog that had no effect on the man. He was deaf to any other sound in the world at this moment, but the bells. It was not until him and the wife finally got out into the lake, that the man shows signs of life. The man stood up very firm and slowly walked toward his wife, as if being controlled by something or someone. Murnau gave me the feeling that this was the murder scene as I saw the terror on her face, but I was wrong. The bell rings again, but this time the camera tilted up from the boat and water to show the church. By showing the church Murnau gives this bell ring significance, and certainly expresses something different. The man totally stopped his actions, instantly his body language changed, facial expressions and attitude in one shot. He raced to land. It's as this bell ring during the day, with sunlight opposite of the moonlight was heavenly instead of demonically.

It's not long that passes when Murnau gives us this third bell ring. This bell ring came as they walked out of what seems like a public place. This bell ring had significance, Murnau wanted the viewer and the couples together to hear these bells and make a relation. The bells are now working for good and are acting like epiphanies in the man's life. Ever since that second bell each one he hears is like a striking understanding of his love for his wife. As the third bell rang, the man and woman saw a church and realized someone is getting married. This epiphany brought him in the church and into the hands of God, more close to his final realization in his commitment with his wife.

In the church, I saw the real emotions of the man and woman. As both of them sat in the church, he was totally subjected to her. Almost like he was begging for forgiveness in the name of the Lord. As he sat in the church, is when I heard the most powerful bell ring of all. After he hears the priests words to remind him of his own vows, be breaks down to cry. The man with his head on his wife's lap as he asked for forgiveness one last time. Here is where we see both of them get an epiphany from the bells; as the wife also realizes at this time that this is her husband's true love being shown. This is the first time Murnau showed me the bells actually ringing. Which lead me to realize he used all three other bell rings to lead up to this one. As if an equation that needed to be figured out, the question was did all of the bell rings add up to be bad or good outcomes. Since two of the bell rings where like epiphanies, I believed the outcome that I reached in this bell shot I explained was good.

The man and woman leave the church as if they are the only ones in the world. That last bell was like a symbol in their marriage. They leave the church as if they are celebrating their new lives together, acting like kids and attending a party. At this point in the movie, it's hard to vision any tragedy. With Murnau not including any symbols or sounds of the bells for a while, the movie flows on. It was not until the man finds out that his wife might be dead, that we get ready for another synecdoche. When his wife has been claimed dead, the man was furious and sad. The mistress who was oblivious to the man's change of heart that he had during the day, raced to his home. Keep in mind that we have not heard any bells ringing at nighttime yet. The mistress made her way to the man in the doorway, whose image was like silhouette. At this moment I heard the last bell ring, this one is demonic. His body language completely changed and anger rose, except this time it was directed to the mistress. His anger has been directed to the root of all this chaos. It as if her own hypnotism has reversed on her, and now she is the target marked for death.