Be My Brother

The Tropfest film Be My Brother by Genevieve Clay interpreted the idea of belonging from the perspective of a boy called Richard who is a bit “different.” Richard is a boy who suffers from down syndrome and copes the prejudice and stigma that go with his disease. The film expresses Richard’s interactions with people and how his whole sense of belonging is diminished. There are various techniques which are used in the film to emphasise and challenge the viewer of their understanding of belonging, which includes the visual (camera shots, setting), auditory (dialogue) and structural (arrangement of the film) techniques.
Belonging is essential to ensure that an individual feels connected within a group of identities. Visual techniques are used all through the film to express the idea that one should feel apart, the technique of the mid shots of Amanda sitting on the seat, had her   on the right hand side of the frame with a long length of empty seats. This frame suggested loneliness but also provided enough room for someone to join her. This can contradict to what belonging is defined as, as she had no one with her yet it looked like she was at eased and belonged there. Belonging comes in different forms and people belong to various amounts of places and people.
We ostracise members of society and they feel marginalised because of differences in ideology or appearance, affecting one’s sense of belonging to society. Throughout the film the sense of Richard’s belonging was evolving, the setting of the film played a part in indicating its change. The setting of the bus stop created a sense of normality to the story, as going to a bus stop is a daily routine for people and is just a temporary stop in people’s lives; it is that one step closer to that final destination. The idea of belonging in a sense is a bit like this idea as it is a journey and forever improving or getting closer to that final destination of where you want to be.
The tone in someone’s voice and how...