Body of Lies

            Body of lies is directed by Ridley Scott, and based on a novel of the same name, written by David Ignatius. It is produced by Warner Bros Pictures, Scott Free Productions and De Line Pictures.  Body of Lies was released in the US on 10^th October and in the UK on 21^st November 2008. Although the film is set in the Middle East, it was filmed mainly in Maryland, USA and Morocco. The film only made $12.9 million in its first week, and $115,097,286 in worldwide box office returns. Body of lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

 Semiology/Location

As the film opens, there is a Middle Eastern character speaking and pointing his finger. We get the impression he is the leader, because the way he speaks and body language is quite authoritative, and  from what he is saying in the subtitles he seems to know a lot, and has influence over a great deal, and also is speaking in a manner of inspiration and encouragement. Because he is speaking in a foreign language, we as an audience feel excluded as if we are intruding on a secrecy act. We can connotate that because he is an unknown figure and language, he is a bad character, and the way he is pointing his finger he is almost dictating. After this, there is a shot of a train rushing past the screen. It's fast, rattly movement creates a slight built up of tension as it quickens the film pace, to make it seem as if there is something going to happen soon, and time is running out. This tension is added to with the bomb squad running around secretly. Although they are dressed in black, we know they are good people because they are country officials, we know them as defenders of us. This means, due to the vast amount of them spread out all seeming to focus on one house, that whatever they are defending us from is important as they must be quite dangerous. There is also a milkman character who seems to be the innocent, unaware peace character. The houses in the area of focus are run down, and poor which are usually used in film to portray dodgy dealings and mysterious activities in that kind of area.

Sound/Special Effects

The film opens with the traditional Warner Brothers sound, which gives the audience some familiarity, and a feeling of safety. The man speaking is talking in Arabic, although we know it is set in Manchester, there is also Arabic music playing in the background. This makes the whole intro more sinister. As there is more action going on, there is more going on in the scene, with loud cars, and faster paced music. The radio in the background is relaying the voice of the same man at the beginning, implying that the man was an authority figure. The overall noise of goings on intensifies the film, by increasing tension. The opening uses mainly diegetic sound of city life noises and people speaking etc, except the Arabic music that is plying in the background which does not seem to have an origin point. The big explosion at the end is heightened by the complete silence just before it, making it more intense.

Mise-en-scene

The dark room at the beginning has many shadows, implying that they are concealing something. The foreign man talking and pointing his finger indicates power and that he is possibly a dictator. There is also smoke, which means there must be fire, signifying danger. In the next bit, the characters' faces are shadowed, also showing that they are hiding something and are not what they seem. The police are dressed in black, and are running around suspiciously and secretly. The intro contains themes of religion, suicide, explosion and mass destruction. The swat teams' entrance breaking is concealed by the sounds of the milkman, signifying that they are using the innocent character of the milkman as cover.

Camera shots, angles & Lighting

The scene opens with a mid shot of the Arabic dictator's face, and the camera slowly zooms out as he talks. The room in which he is in is dark and shadowy, and also slightly musty, as if he did not want to be in full view and is therefore hiding. There is light peeking through the windows, and as we see slightly later on with the swat team it quite light outside, indicating that it could be early morning.  The house which the three men are in also seems dark and musky. judging by the sweat they are producing, quite hot too, unless that is merely the tension of whatever they are doing, which is later revealed as building a bomb. This part is filmed as if it was the point of view of someone walking into the house. There are several shots of the Swat team as the camera follow them as they make their way to the house. At this point, the camera shots are very choppy changey as they switch between different views of the swat team and the milkman. There are several mid shots of the characters' faces inside the house, as they realise they are being broken into. When the bomb goes off, there are several different views of the explosion from different angles, and some with a kind of shaking effect to make it seem like the whole floor is rocking, and everything is in chaos.