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Scarface Analysis Essay

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Scarface Analysis Essay
Raj Singh
Mrs. Mccormick
Film Class
12 February 2012
Scarface Analysis Essay

The gangster movie genre is one of the most popular among the modern movies and some of the best film directors have produced some very excellent gangster movies. For my first film analysis, I decided to analyze my favorite gangster movie of all time. The movie that I analyzed is called “Scarface” and is directed by Brian De Palma. It was released in 1983 and is still a super hit movie today. Let me go through a short summary of the movie. The movie is focused around the life of a man by the name of Tony Montana and depicts his rise to power from a political refugee from Cuba to a drug warlord. In the course of the movie, Tony Montana also known as Scarface, is able to go from a dishwasher in a small restaurant to a very powerful man in the States through the drug trafficking and distribution of large amounts of Columbian cocaine. The movie shows Scarface’s rise to fame and then his downfall caused mainly through cause and effect. Now that I have briefly described the summary of the film, let us focus on other factors of this film. First, I would like to outline how time is displayed in the film. Time is displayed in a very efficient manner. The opening scene begins with a black and white figure of Fidel Castro giving a speech on how he does not want rebels holding back the revolution in his country. When the credits start, there is footage of ships packed with Cubans being taken to Florida, and from this we understand what Tony has gone through before we pick up with him. After all the credits roll by, the actual movie starts focusing on the main character himself. The opening scene is of an interrogation and the camera is focused on Tony for the most part. From here on the movie runs in a linear sequence and there are no flashbacks or other setbacks. Another point that I want to run across is how the camera shows the one side of Tony’s face that has the scar
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