Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studies for this topic.

City of God:

- City of God tends to show a more colourful pallet of brown, green and amber, to show the more sinister side of Urban existence and to reflect the poor living conditions in the Favelas.
- The earliest events are shot with bright colours in a very open environment, suggesting freedom, whereas 2 decades later, with a steady decline, the city's descent into poverty is visualised in much darker tones and colours as the characters become more violent and turn to crime and drugs.
- The boys don't have the education to realise violence isn't always the answer
- Much of the narrative delves into violence and drugs, showing how poverty leads to this behaviour, which then leads to poverty, creating a vicious circle that is impossible to escape. This is also shown at the end of the film, where Lil' Ze is killed by 'the runts' who then take over as one of the main gangs.

La Haine:

- The entire film is shot in black and white to reflect the bleak, cold and boring surroundings where the characters live and also suggest the black and white sense of conflicts between social groups that begins as a consequence of poverty.
- Simply revolving the action around the three characters, during a 24 hour time frame, were they are often shown sitting around doing nothing, as a ticking clock constantly marks time, suggests that they have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in the characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
- The youths ignore their education and take on unrealistic roles influenced by US cinema and rap.
- We see Vince copying the Travis Bickle character from 'Taxi Driver' as he mimics his actions in the mirror. Vince only believes what he is being shown as he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is, effects of poverty.
- The characters don’t resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown. For example, Vinz sees himself as a gangster, and is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies after being put in a coma after a riot, and is seen multiple times fantasizing his vengeance.

- Poverty is a constant reminder of why the characters act and behave the way they do.
- In both films, brotherhood is shown to illuminate that the characters go through because of poverty. Through poverty, communities have to work together to survive, these boys are doing just that, they don’t necessarily have the support of a strong family environment so they look elsewhere for that sense of brotherhood and belonging.