Custom «The Shame of the Nation» Essay Paper Sample

The film can be known as the shame of the nation. The film is about gangs in conflict and who are struggling to gain control of the city. It begins by the death of the south side gang leader Louis Castillo who gets killed by Tony Camonte on the order of his boss Lovo. Lovo then takes control of the south side and makes Camonte his deputy and warns him to keep of the north side gang. Camonte though is ambitious and does not listen to Lovo. He pursues his ambition to overtake the north side gang also take Lovo's girlfriend poppy. He succeeds and ends up taking control of the north side and poppy. He and his friend Rinaldo kill Lovo and Camonte become the new king of the city. Camonte has a liking for his sister and is extremely protective of her. The film ends with Camonte in a shooting with the police, and he gets killed.

The main character in this film is Tony Camonte. Camonte is exceedingly ambitious and has a thirst for power and killing. In a certain scene, he has a childish grim when handed his first shot gun. He also ahs a thirst for being powerful, Camonte will stop at nothing until he achieves total power (McCarthy, 2000). He kills his boss, the north side gang boss and even his friend, who marries his sister. Ambition also sees him ignore the instruction of his boss Lovo and go ahead to invade the north side. He invades the bars owned by the north side gang by shooting and destroying the bars.

The major theme of the film was that people would rise and rally up against organized crime. The film intends to show the grim side of organized crime and how prohibition of an item brings forth organized crime. The film somehow did not succeed as it contained unusually many death scenes that get censored. Also, the audience began to perceive the gangster life as one with luxury and leisure. People in gangs were able to live as they pleased and had power, in other words they were living the American dream by succeeding through organized crime.

There is also the theme of incest presented in the film. It is from the beginning of the film that the viewer begins to sense the relationship that exists between Camonte and his sister Cesca. It seems unusual and somehow sexual. The sister is the weakness that Tony has in the film. He is extremely protective of her, to the extent of killing Guino. In the end, the death of Cesca affects Camonte extremely intensely, that he looses his composure and fight.

There is the presence of a motif, depicted by the repetition of the mark 'x'. This mark is present when the film begins, and each time the mark appears a death has occurred or is about to happen. For instance, there is a scene where the mark appears on the door of Guino Rinaldo. Camonte also bears the mark on his face, which depicts that he may also die, which he performs in the last part of the movie.

Scarface 1983

This is a remake of Scarface 1932, but set in a different and contemporary society. The film begins with Montana as a refugee who quickly enters into the mob, by working a deal well. It is different from Scarface 1932 because Montana begins from a particularly low point almost rags and rises up the ladder of the mob. Montana also has an eye for his boss girlfriend just as Camonte had for poppy. He also keeps in touch with his mother and sister Gina. As Camonte was overprotective of his sister in Scarface 1932, so is Montana, who even warns many his friend away from pursuing her.

This remake though is different in certain aspects. First, Scarface 1983 is revolving around the sale of cocaine. Montana also gets addicted to the drugs, but Camonte does not have an addiction to alcohol. Montana gets involved with a dangerous mob that ends up killing him in his office. The mob whose leader was Sosa had warned Montana against betraying him. Montana though ends up killing many just as Camonte did to Guino.

The main character in this film is tony Montana. Montana gets depicted as a greedy and ambitious person. Tony wants to rise above the ladder of the mob and acquire the American dream. He rises from rags to riches where he controls the empire of his former boss. He also has a thirst for killing and strongly believes in the quote 'the world is yours'. In his death, he manages to shoot many of Sosa men using his M16; he also calls the gun his friend.

The major theme in this film is the American dream. The film want to show that acquiring the dream is not always a pleasant thing. The film is in a society crazed with acquiring power and wealth. People want to rise from rags and become rich, thinking that while they have the dream they will experience happiness (Tucker, 2008). On the contrary, acquiring the dream does not always bring happiness; this gets shown through Montana's life. He ends up not experiencing any love and dying because of the widely sought American dream. Additionally, the movie also focuses on the theme of capitalism and greed that capitalism has brought.

In these remake, unlike the 'x' mark in the Scarface 1932, here death is in a bucket full of blood. It is bloody, violent and a horrific scenery (Dirks, 2011). There is also the use of the motif 'the world is yours', which even appears in the end of the movie when Montana dies. The setting of the movie helps to create a mise en scene, where the bedrooms are gold plated; they also have leather chairs and baths fixed in their bathrooms. This helps the viewer to have an idea of what it was like in the 1980s.