Textual Analysis: Strangers

Strangers is a 2004 short film by directors Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor, upon it's release it won many awards including the Sundance Online Film Festival Viewers Award and a BAFTA Award for Excellence at the Aspen Shortsfest. Since making Strangers, Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor have taken the same format of a chance meeting of some strangers and created a feature length film of the same title. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2007.

Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor

Strangers is the story of a Jew and a Muslim who encounter each other on a train and are quickly threatened by a group of Skinheads. The theme of the piece is religious tension. It is first seen between the Jew and the Muslim but then (more menacingly) between the Skinheads and the Jew and the Muslim. The ending of the play brings a lighter note to the theme, indicating that there can be compromise between most beliefs.

The first shot is a simple establishing shot of a train passing the camera. It lets the audience know the location of the story. The rest of the camerawork in the film is used to establish the characters. A variety of close ups show the ethnic backgrounds of the characters. A close up of the Muslim’s paper shows he is reading in Arabic, a close up of the Jew’s neck shows his Star Of David pendant and a close up of the skinheads reveal typical piercings, boots and Swastikas. These are key to establishing the intentions of the characters and also clearly set the theme of the film to be Racial Tension within the first 2 minutes. AT first we see tension between the Jew and the Muslim but later, when both threatened we see unity between them. This unity is however still separated in the final shots of the film, when the pair are on separate sides of the railway tracks after thwarting the skinheads. This is a clear message for the film that although people can be separated by their beliefs, they can come together to defeat evil.

The sound of the piece is key to building the tension until the pair decides to escape the Skinheads. Short, sharp drumbeats signify the heartbeats of the pair as the skinheads approach, quickly increasing in tempo. For a while, the music continues in this drumming style until the Jew attempts to exit at a station. As he does so his phone rings, playing a traditional Jewish song as his ringtone. The drums are then interrupted for this moment and until he shuts off the phone. The next sounds heard are two short, sharp, higher pitched sounds which are accompanied by camera cuts showing the Jew and the Muslim looking at each other and nodding. They quickly jump from their seats surprising the Skinheads and allowing them to make their escape. Whilst this is happening, fast paced bongo music is playing, implicating the urgency and danger of this attempt to escape. The pair escape to freedom and the music immediately stops, signifying their safety. Other than this, general diagetic sounds of the train and platform announcer can be heard throughout, mainly to create realism in the location.

The mise-en-scene of the piece creates the religious stereotypes which help us to see the situation we are looking at. The Jew wears a Star Of David pendant, signifying his beliefs. The Muslim is Asian and reads an Arabic newspaper, signifying his beliefs. The skinheads wear large boots, have piercings and have baldheads with iron crosses, signifying their beliefs. The expected audience knowledge of these signs are what allow this piece to be successful and camera detail which shows the signs is what makes the viewer notice them.

The editing of the piece has a symbiotic relationship with the sound, camera and mise-en-scene to reinforce the religious stereotypes. When the Jew first gets on the train we see him look across the carriage at something, then revealed through the use of editing to be the Arabic newspaper that the Muslim is reading. When the Jew notices this he pulls out his pendant, making sure to show the Star Of David to the Muslim (again, recognition of this symbol is shown through the editing). This same technique is used when the Skinheads hear the Jew’s ringtone.

Overall, the combination of sound, editing, camera and mise-en-scene come together to make the film perfectly understandable despite it having no dialogue. It effectively beats the viewer over the head with symbols and signs of such widely known stereotypes that it is accessible to almost anyone with a slight knowledge of religion.