Once Upon a Time in America

"Once Upon a Time in America"
Directed by Sergio Leone - (1984)

"Once Upon a Time in America" directed by Sergio Leone, is a crime/thriller that works hard on portraying life in 20th century America. Leone uses various techniques and conventions to show his views on the lifestyle of both gangster and civilian alike in this passionate and effective outlook of post war America.

Here we have an image taken from one of the first scenes of the film, an unsuspecting femmefatale is seen walking into a darkened room. Leone uses a the lamp as a focal point in this scene, switched on by the women it lightens up the gloomy surroundings. Arguably the lamp could be used by Leone to represent the women. This is hinted at later on during the scene where the women is brutally murdered and the lamp is switched off. Aswell as the lighting in this scene, there is much focus on the general colours of the room and indeed the womens clothing, a somewhat plainly coloured dress worn by the women suggests she is of little significance, while the bloody red wallpaper could hint at the bloodshed to come. Finaly leone fixates the camera on the womens necklace and jewelry suggesting prehaps she is a wealthy women, adding some glamour to the otherwise glamourless room.

The idea of mystery arises when the women turns back the bed sheets to discover bullet holes shaped in the image of a person, still very much a focal point, the lamp shines its light over the bed. The feeling of distress can be felt by the women as she realises the threat of death is near. Leone uses the rule of thirds to split the room into three seperate focal images. On one side we see a lonely pillow, possibly representing the women being alone, the whiteness of the pillow being used as a direct comparrison to the womens skin. Next we have the human shaped bullet holes a horrific image that both scares and puzzles the onlooker. Thirdly we have the women and the lamp leaning over the bed intrigued and scared of whats to come.

Here is an image taken shortly after the womens discovery of the bullet holes. Leone scares the women and indeed the audience with the sudden appearance of three dangerous looking men, the women who was clearly unaware of their presence now finds herself outnumbered. The camera is again split into three, each third being filled with a character, reinforcing the feeling that the women is very much alone. Leone uses generic gangster clothing to suggest these figures are very dangerous, the long coats and fedora hats being recognisable as early 20th century clothing for the gangster type figure. Leone also uses the camera to show one of the men having his hand in his pocket, this adds suspense as the viewer is not certain what he is holding, and suggests he has a gun or a similiar dangerous weapon.

One of the final shots in this scene, the women now lays dead facing the camera while the three murderers hover over her corpse. Again the lamp is used as a key object in the shot, being the only light source in the room it glares at the camera and lights up the faces of the three gangster looking figures. The shocking extreme close up of the women's dead face adds an element of horror to the fray, her skin now looks even more pale, almost matching her clothes and her glamorous jewelry has been covered up by her clothing, suggesting tshat all her glamour has left her. Meanwhile the three gangster figures look on, looking very profesional and very dangerous.