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Film Chosen: Salt (2010)

Salt is an Action Thriller including the sub-genres of detectiveand mystery, spy, Drama and action. The film features afamous actress called Angelina Jolie and the film starts off with

her being locked up or held a captive. As they claim she is anAmerican spy.

Location/Setting: The setting of the film is in a North Korean prison, and the filmbegins with the protagonist, CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) being locked up,held and tortured as she refuses to reveal her true identity. Although the setting is

very dark, it is obvious that she has been held in some sort of prison or prisonerbased camp as she is released from a dark room, and also the group of men are inpolice uniform. As they released her from the room, the policemen tied her up to theground and started to insert a pipe in her mouth, which showed that she was goingto be tortured even more, and filled the pipe with gasoline for her to suffer. At thispoint, the setting still isnt visible and clear, and the only thing visible is the greyceiling and a few windows, which I assume that it would be some sort ofunderground prison. Evelyn Salt is then released as part of a prisoner exchange andis then in the same hands of the CIA. It was then clear that this was set in a prisonas she walks out of the prison entrance and then towards a long bridge where theCIA are waiting for her and exchanging both prisoners.

Character: In the opening scene, Evelyn Salt in locked up in a small dark roomand we only see her once the policemen opened the door, when we do see her, sheis handcuffed, and already bruised up and battered as if she has already beentortured before. After she is released out of the room and put to the floor sheconsistently repeats the sentence I am not a spy, I am not a spy in a helpless tonewhich shows that she is scared and she doesnt want to get hurt but also, shedoesnt want to reveal who she really is. She is then tortured more as the policementhink she is lying, so some sort of pipe is inserted into her mouth and she is forced todrink gasoline. Evelyn Salt then chokes over the gasoline which shows that shesuffers more and they are convinced she is lying, and then the first part of theopening scene fades out. In the second part of the opening scene, Salt is thenreleased and she is guided towards the CIA by Korean policemen in exchange for aKorean prisoner. As this is during the day, her facial features are much clearer andyou can see many bruises and cuts all around her face and body. She is thencollected by her fellow colleagues and also with them, her boyfriend who is a wellknown arachnologist (Scientific study of spiders). This then ends and the beginningof the film starts to begin.

Lightning: The lighting of the film is very dark and the surroundings are hardlyvisible as you can mostly see just the faces of the people within the scene. This

could reflect on the atmosphere within the scene, as she is in a prison, she is being

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tortured and maybe to show that its hidden and not in the open so that everyone cansee.

Enigmas:Many enigmas are created which makes us wonder and want to watchthe rest of the film for us to understand the whole plot. For example, the audience

are curious to know who Evelyn Salt really is, if she is lying or not. Or who she hasbeen captured by and why, was there a main reason to why she has being torturedthat much etc. We then find out later in the movie that she used to be a Russian spyand now works for the CIA, but then help the Russians instead of the Americans andturns against the Americans. But then she finds out she is doing wrong and that theRussians are the bad guys in the movie. As the movie continues, this also questionswhether she is the protagonist or the antagonist.

ShotsMany types of shots are used in the opening scene such as; close up shotsto view the subjects face in more detail and show the detail of the blood and bruises.Long shots to show the whole setting and where they are placed. This can also showstatus and who is dominating who as it shows that Salt is being put to the ground bythree policemen which shows that she is more vulnerable towards them. Over theshoulder shot is used when they open the prison doors and you see Salt in thecorner of the room.