X-Men: Bryan Singer

I decided to watch X-Men this week because it is one of the few superhero franchises that I have never seen any of the films of (now it's only Batman left) and I very much enjoy Marvel's plots, characters and films from previous experience. Despite the genre being one of my favourites, I have not yet analysed one in detail, and so I took the opportunity when it was on Film 4.

The settings and the use of colour were the prominent stand-out features of this film to me. For example, in the opening scene, which I am going to look at in detail in a minute, the colour palette is composed of only blacks, greys and dark blues to reflect the despondence in the scene. Also, when Logan (Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman) wakes up in the X-Mansion and begins to desperately try to work out where he is, the decor changes drastically as he travels from the lower floors to the ground level, showing how he is discovering the facade around this place and the X-Men, and lifting it.

The scene that I chose as my focus scene is the opening one - you can watch it here. This scene takes place a lot earlier than the rest of the film's action - in Poland in 1944. The initial impression of this place given is that it is sad and desperate, shown by the blue/grey colour palette, the rain and the close up of the trudging steps in the mud. This is all also seen through a wire fence, implicating imprisonment. As the shot then moves up so that the soldier is the central focus, the fact that this is occurring during a war is made evident. The year and place then fade up onto the screen - "Poland 1944" - and this immediately makes us think of one thing: the Holocaust. The shot then cuts to the crowd of Jews shuffling along after focusing briefly on one man. The Stars of David pinned to their chests are the only things that contain any bright colour in this scene, immediately drawing attention to them. The shot then shifts back to the man, and then pans to a boy beside him, and then a woman beside the boy. The focus on the boy from that moment establishes him as a major character, and from then onwards the scene is composed of shot-reverse shots showing his realisation of the horrors of this place - the tattoos on the arms of the Jews already working, their gaunt faces - until he looks forward again, implying that key action is about to occur. The boy is then separated from the man and woman - seemingly his parents - by force as the crowd is sorted by the angry sounding German guards. The non-digetic music then swells, demonstrating the fact that the end of this specific event has not yet been reached. The tension builds as the mothers screams are heard as she attempts to push back through the crowd to get to her son, interspersed with shots of the boy running unhindered through and past the guards. He is finally stopped as the gates are closed, and the shots of him with his hand outstretched followed by the gate implicates, especially given the theme of the film - that he is about to do something to the gates. The pace of the shots increases as the shot length decreases, showing mainly close ups - the boy's hand, the metal gates bending, the soldiers' boots slipping in the mud as they try to pull him back - all draw attention to this power that he has. Once he is finally stopped by receiving a hit with a gun over his head, the close up of one of the soldiers shows his fear looking at the gates, at the evidence of this boy's power. The shot then pans up to focus on one of the chimneys of the camp, reinforcing who the enemy was in this situation.

I thought this scene was particularly interesting as Magneto - the main villain, played by Sir Ian McKellen - was the boy, and so this scene seems to be attempting to justify his actions. Other origin stories of villains usually depict them as power hungry or already inherently evil in some way, but this scene was different - although it still doesn't seem to entirely justify Magneto's later actions and ambitions.