Symbolism Of Red In The Film 'A Time To Kill'

Kieron coleman

A Time to Kill, directed by Joel Schumacher. Is all about how a young 10-year old girl is viciously brutalized by two white racist rednecks --James Louis “Pete” Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Tonya is found sent to the hospital, while the two rednecks brag about what they have done in a local bar. Tonya’s father is understandably devastated and fuming with what happened it took it into is own hands to wait for the two rednecks to be taken through the court room to, storm in and spray bullets at them, killing them both. Later that day he gets arrested by another African American sheriff Ozzie Walls, where Carl is placed on trail. Counter play and Redemption play a role within this movie towards the African American Society numerous …show more content…
Red is seen to show problems within movies. Early on when Carl shoots the two rednecks, Brigance is seen on his porch in tears with blood all over his white shirt. Blood is seen a lot with in the involvement of the KKK. The leader of the KKK is seen in red at the front of the brawl showing us the power and involvement he had. In addition to this, the relationship we see growing in the movie is between Brigance and Ellen. They appear to be sharing a hotel room prior to the court order helps us understand the relationship they had was growing due the the levels of red in the hotel room. Although nothing was shown its gives us an idea or perhaps intimacy had been growing throughout. As well as this we see fire a lot in the movie relating to the KKK. As we see the leader off the KKK burn in flames the power of red emphasizes his power of position in the scene. We also see a burning cross in front of Brigance’s house where his daughter and mother are exposed. Fire also helps the energy within the movie. It creates more of the power of change in the movie, relating back to equality. It helps us link together who is on the defendants’ side and who is against the change of …show more content…
In the first court case, we see a wide shot of the whole court which is the splitting of whites and blacks in the background again this shows us the racism theme we see throughout the movie. The camera angles also help us grasp an understanding of where we look within the shots. A lot of the scenes in the movie have a lot going on in the background but keeps us focused on the main point. We see Brigance wife in a power position where we see Brigance basically upset blaming himself for the amount of people dying. The camera angle shows Brigance wife standing up slowly walking up to Brigance sitting looking beaten. Brigance wife then takes her self to the knees to get on the same level as Brigance which helps us understand her support. It gives us an understanding that she is on the same level and will be there for him no matter the outcome, she has his back and it gives a sense of courage that Brigance needs in the particular moment. In the court order we see a lot of camera choices where we see whites and then blacks in different shots but never together, this links us again the racism aspect of the movie, the whites want different to the blacks. Finally we see a lot of effects in the film, which help create more tension for the viewer we see