The Night Club - Benny's farewell

• Meirelles communicates the duality of brazil by juxtaposing its violent aesthetic with its' vibrancy: and this sequence is a prime example of when the two come together, it is also communicated through the on screen graphic 'bennys farewell'
• Opening with a LA shot, with a neon green light projecting onto the wall (green connoting envy foreshadowing Lil Ze's jealousy that leads to Benny's death) whilst the diegetic 'Dance Across the Floor' by Miami based Artist Jimmy Horne plays in the distance - referencing the 'Tropicalia' movement in brazil that celebrated american influence.
• Jump cutting to a LA shot centre framing the disco ball - connoting the celebration - and a HA shot of the packed dance floor.
• As Rockets familiar intra-diegetic voiceover describing ‘benny was too cool to just be a hoodlum’ begins to play, Meirelles cuts to a crowd shot of Benny pouring drinks for those surrounding him, before cutting to him celebrating his party with the ‘crowds’ he had manage to get to come. Here, he exudes a friendly, vibrant aura not only through his performance but also his bright, Hawaiian shirt connoting happiness and freedom.
• The celebratory quick paced shots of Benny is harshly contrast the isolated CU and shadowed shot of Lil Ze ‘who had never danced in his life’, centre framed and alone, showing his distorted personality as his facial expression portray an aggressive sense of unhappiness in contrast to his vibrant surroundings.
• There is a short moment where Meirelles could be asking the audience to sympathise with Lil Ze, who rocket describes as having ‘never danced before’ as he approached a girl to ask her to ‘dance with [him]’, before he is rejected. This small pathetic moment reveals how the corruption of the Brazilian government pushing the lower class into poverty in the slums, causing the inevitable crime that has therefore stripped Lil Ze and thousands of other children in the slums from their childhood and life-experiences that teach them how to behave in social situations.
• Eye level shot depicting the loneliness in his eyes, lil ze is always alone.
• As he is rejected for the second time in this sequence, the camera work turns shifty and disorientating: a spinning extreme LA of the disco ball and blurry flashes of the blinding light: which could reflect Lil Ze’s feelings of rejection and jealousy seeing Bennys positivity towards life and vision beyond the favela and how he does not know how to process these emotions: since he has been heartless since a young age (due to the criminality of the favela.)
• The camera begins to arc around Lil Ze, cutting to a POV shot frantically zooming in on the crowd, focusing in on the women who previously rejected Lil Ze and her boyfriend. This shows the singular way that Lil Ze knows how to process his emotions: through violence.
• Once again, Lil Ze and Benny are shown to be binary oppositions as while Lil Zee is humiliating an innocent man: Benny is doing his final deal of coke, that he only agreed to after hearing Angelica say ‘Rocket would love this camera’ for a camera that he proceeds to gift to Rocket: a heartfelt portrayal of his love for his friends. Supporting his dreams.
• Cross cutting between the three events that are occurring, with a rotating camera, Neds younger brother suspiciously turning up, Lil Ze humiliating the unnamed man with joy and Benny gifting Rocket the camera.
• Violence destroys the happiness (dancing shown through documentary like handheld camera), the perpetrator Lil Ze throwing Rocket to the ground, a decision that inevitably causes Benny's death as they begin fighting over the camera, strobe lighting introduced, music change, Blacky approaches.
• During the confrontation between the two, Meirelles shows signs of tragedy waiting to happen. There is a change in music, lighting (strobe lighting), and camera angle. Suspense is built.
• The strobe lighting creates this flickering of life, how the light suddenly goes out with death.
• Strobe lighting crosscuts between the conflict between Benny + Lil Ze and Blacky hidden in the crowd, pulling a gun out of his jacket: youth infiltrated in the violence.

  
  

  As Blacky approaches: he inches closer with each strobe lighting, the scene is so disorientating it is unclear who shot Benny at first.

  
  

  Benny falls to the ground in LS, the flashing lights continuing but the music is cut - life ends
• The final shot is an ELS of Lil Ze on his own over Benny's body shooting three bullets into the sky, the strobe lighting continuing. He is isolated, any goodness is gone, there is no one to stop his 'thirst to kill'.

  
  

  The one death he is affected by: it is on his hands.

  Shooting in the air a reversal of celebratory gunfire, could it be a call back to the LA montage, where when Z shoots into the camera and B shoots into the air.
• Effective editing and cinematography positioning the audience in the party as Lund creates a stark contrast in the framing - Benny is always with people and Lil Ze is always alone
• Benny's death cuts the music, party clears, lights remains flashing and we see just how alone Lil Ze is: just a silhouette in a suddenly completely empty room: without Benny there is no party.

  Symbolic of turn in the music.
• Since no one is around to shoot, Lil Ze shoots his gun in the air instead: that is his method to dealing with emotions.

  After Benny's death, the whole neighbourhood becomes a battlefield at the hands of Lil Ze