In this extract, the director is trying to convey the theme that “In dire situations, you may have to trust untrustworthy people”. They portray this through the use of camera angles, camera movement, shots, editing, sound, and mis en scene.
In the first scene, the director uses the dialogue between the man and the woman to portray that there is a lack of trust. The man talks in a very direct tone and the woman provides very little information showing that both parties do not feel comfortable with each other. Additionally, the eye-line match used when the woman looks at the clock expresses that they are in a time crunch. This contributes to the theme by showing that they have little time to solve the problem, so the situation became “dire”. Finally, the director chose to use cross-cutting to cut from the interrogation scene to the observers. This allows the audience to infer that the woman is potentially dangerous and is not to be trusted because she requires observation.
Next in the second scene, the director added incidental music after the man’s first outbreak. The function of that is to signify the intensity of the scene, something bad is happening or going to happen. To add on, the close-up during the second outbreak shows the anger the man possesses. He is angry at the woman due to her lack of accountability and possibly because he knows she will not do the right thing in this situation. Also, in the second outbreak, the director used a split screen to express the urgency the observers have to ensure the woman stayed unharmed, therefore pointing out her importance.
Finally, throughout the entire extract, the director maintained dim lighting. The effect this has on the audience is to show the gloomy scenario. The situation is not happy or exciting and that is shown through the lighting. Furthermore, the setting of the scene is an interrogation room. The usage of an interrogation room helps express to the audience that the woman is most likely a criminal. This further enhances the idea that she is untrustworthy.
Overall, the director displays the theme through a variety of techniques to show that the woman is untrustworthy as well as possibly dangerous however incredibly important. The man knows this and is angry that she is the only solution to the problem causing him to have to trust someone he deems untrustworthy in this seemingly dire situation.
