DARK HORSE INTERNAL

Dark horse is a movie directed and written by James Napier Robertson. Towards the end of the movie Robertson uses Genesis a mental health patient in one of the biggest scenes where Genesis builds up tension as his team member tries to win a chess final. Genesis had spent most of the movie coaching young kids with broken families to play chess and this scene shows how much it means for him. Its shown by using four different techniques to highlight Genesis’s constant pacing and rushed speaking. Dialogue, carefully angled camera shots, facial expression and gesture are all used to set the scene for one of the final scenes of the movie.

To show how much the chess competition meant to Genesis and his team member, Robertson used many close up shots of Genesis to show how his facial expression was very anxious leading up to the result of the final. His furrowed eyebrows and creased forehead are all actions people do when they’re nervous. I think his anxious actions were very exaggerated because for Genesis it was so much more than just a final of a chess game, it was that fact that he’s given the children a purpose in life and something to strive towards. They had come from dysfunctional families and when Genesis gave them a chess piece each he also gave them an identity. Identity helped the children to connect with their maori heritage, with the chess pieces being the maori warriors that they were and the board being the land that they conquered. Constant pacing and jittery hands were another technique called gesture that Robertson used as they lead up to the revealing of the winner of the final with the longer the time went on the more nervous Genesis got.  These effects caused the viewers to become very involved and on edge because we wanted Genesis to do well. Accompanied by the three other techniques already used, Robertson was very articulate about what music he used as a background for that scene. To focus on Genesis dialogue which consisted of him yelling ‘yes, yes’ when his team member won, the music played was very slow and you almost couldn’t hear it. Our eyes and ears were paying attention to Genesis reaction but the piano music also provided a dramatic effect. Robertson wanted us to feel part of the story by using these techniques to feel the emotions Genesis felt. He also wanted us to understand how Genesis gave the children a proper goal to achieve and part of that goal was wanting to succeed in chess and the other one was trying to save them before they ended up in jail. Genesis didn’t want them getting involved in illegal activities so he made chess become more important.

Before moving to Wanaka i used to live in Thames where poverty, dysfunctional families and gangs were a major part of society. Thames High School had a large proportion of children who didn’t have much direction and demonstrated this by behaving badly. I believe these children acted out to try get the attention of their parents who abandoned them. I also think that many of these children have good hearts but just need a proper role model and something to strive towards to set them on the right path. This movie highlighted these issues but also showed that with time and the right guidance  these children can improve their lives.