The Bourne Identity (2002) is a
conspiracy thriller, based on the story of a young man salvaged near death out
in the ocean by Italian fishermen. When he becomes conscious again, he suffers
from complete amnesia without knowing his identity or background. This
incorporates the genre of conspiracy, particularly considering he's
trying to be lethally pursued by assassins and doesn't know why. Due to
his lack of knowledge about himself, the audience also has a lack of knowledge
and therefore is enticed by the possibility of an expected surprise or plot
twist.
Narrative
The narrative of this opening scene is
fairly conventional to a thriller conspiracy in that cross cutting is used to
show a parallel narrative, showing the two different contexts occurring,
giving the scene texture and creates tension within the audience. Parallel
narrative is often used in conspiracy thrillers so that the audience has more
background knowledge, allowing them to understand what is going on within the
film at the same time as being intrigued as to find out what happens next. The
parallel narratives occurring are fairly contrasted in that
the fishermen are laughing, having a good time playing Poker, however,
outside on the water, a man is floating unconsciously amongst the rain and
thunder and lightning. It is not until 1:23 when the two narratives collide,
one of the fishermen goes outside on the boat and sees this figure
floating on the water. After he sees this, he immediately starts to
help save this floating body. This leaves the audience wondering what a
man's body was doing in the middle of the ocean, and also entices them to
question whether the body is alive or dead and what happened to him. Therefore,
this opening scene builds the atmosphere of tension within the audience, right
at the beginning of the film.
Mise en Scene
Beginning with a blackout, the scene
fades into the first scene. The quality is blurred, signifying the uncertainty
of what is going on and the dark lighting of the dark blue contrasts clearly
with the bright light flashing, communicating that it is night time and there
is a storm occurring. Storms can often be associated with
conspiracies, such as there may be a storm just before something bad is about
to happen. This stereotypical notion is therefore inflicted upon the audience -
to believe that something bad is about to happen. Although the image is
blurred, the lightning contrasts with the dark blue of what appears to be the
ocean, illuminating the eerie image of the dark silhouette of what looks
like a man's body, floating on the surface of the ocean
water.
It then cuts to an establishing shot of
a fishing boat out on the water during the same storm. We then are shown a shot
of the fishermen inside. On the table, it is communicated that they are playing
cards around the table together, ignoring the storm outside and drinking
alcohol. This shows that they are completely oblivious as to what is about to
happen, therefore reflecting on how the audience is feeling at this moment in
time within the scene. The camera action is shaking slightly so as to imply
that the boat is rocking a lot due to the heavy storm outside. However, we can see
from their facial expressions that they are unphased by the ocean storm, and
the audience can assume that this is simply because they are fishermen so they
are used to it.
After this shot, it cuts back to the
parallel narrative of what is happening outside in the ocean amongst the strong
storm. It shows the downfall of rain and the dark, blurry horizon, signifying
how no-one knows what is going to happen next, not even the audience. It
quickly cuts back to the fishermen inside their boat, only this time there is a
close up shot of the objects on the table. Here we can clearly see they are
having an interesting, fun game of poker, suggested via them laughing and
talking loudly and excitedly. Their facial expressions also suggest
this, and they are smoking cigarettes which can
often be associated to signify relaxation and casualness. This
notion emphasises on the fact that these emotions the men are portraying are
conflicting with the audiences tense emotions and the suspense within the
atmosphere of the scene, creating two very different collisions of
emotions.
The next shot draws the audience into
the reality of what is going on. The camera zooms further in to the body
floating on the water, communicating to the audience that this body is the main
subject of the entire scene. The lighting is very low-key, connoting that
danger has struck or something serious has happened. The lightning is still
flashing, creating the pathetic fallacy of danger too and suspense, as this is
often what lightning connotes.
This is followed by the scene of one of
the fishermen walking outside onto the boat in the pouring rain and lightning.
He stumbles around, perhaps from being slightly intoxicated however mainly from
the rocking of the boat on the stormy waves. Due to the dark lighting outside
because it's night, when the camera tracks him walking down towards the edge of
the boat, all the audience can see is the fishermen's silhouette.
This immediately encourages the audience to link this back to
the mysterious body floating on the surface of the water, therefore implying
that the two characters are soon about to meet, finally interacting the two
parallel narratives. There is a mid shot of this fisherman suddenly looking up
and out to sea after he chucks something over the edge of the boat (the reason
why he went outside on the boat in the first place). Here is the exact point
where the audience knows what he is looking at - the floating body. There are
further close up shots of the fisherman's face as he squints and moves his head
to get a better look at what is out in the water. The close up shot is used to
express the emotions of the character, which in this case,
is curiosity and also confusion.
After this shot, it cuts to the first clear shot of
this mysterious body in the ocean. This midlength shot is taken from underneath
the waters surface, and now, due to the camera being closer to the subject, the
audience can properly confirm that this is an unconscious body. However, they
still do not know who it is or how they came into this state. The idea that the
fisherman has seen this body implies that perhaps he will try and save this
body, therefore, helping the audience to reveal more about who this man is -
which throughout the film, the character doesn't even know himself as he
suffers with amnesia when he recuperates.
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