On The Waterfront

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English Essay- ON THE WATERFRONT The film presents clear cut heroes and villains and a black and white view of morality. Do you agree? The film “On the Waterfront” is an academy award winning film, set in the early 1950s. Through its director Elia Kazan the film uses a variety of production techniques to display the idea of clear-cut heroes and villains, and a black and white view of morality. Throughout the film “On the Waterfront”, Kazan sets out to depict these principles, throughout the characters Terry, Eddie, Father Barry and Johnny Friendly. Kazan involves the use of cinematic devices to delve into an area of the human emotions and human conscience. This is the focal point of the entire film as it shows the transition mainly in Terry Malloy that each of the characters are faced with, and how it can be through ones involvement and courage that empower others to follow and therefore whether it be through a hero or a villain that peoples true natures arise. It is through the shame of ‘hiding’ in the church does Fr Barry come out of the church and into the thick of the fight for justice. It is through the long years of corruption, which the union has tortured upon the town, that Fr Barry act of ‘hiding’ in his church, becomes a heroic act of freeing the people from the terrorizing and desperation of the union. In the scene in the ships hold after Kayo Dugan’s death, Kazan uses many shots; one in particular is the bird eye view of the union looking down upon Fr Barry, depicting their power over the longshoremen and over Fr Barry. In this scene Father Barry is portrayed as fearless, risking the anger of the union by angrily speaking out and taking objects thrown at him without drawing back “Anybody who stands around and lets this happen……shares the guilt as much as the Roman soldier who pierced the flesh of our lord”. This is a very powerful scene for Fr
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