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Master Harold And The Boys Film Analysis

Decent Essays

How the film version capture the essence of the play

The book "Master Harold"...and the Boys, is a play written by Athol Fugard. It is about a boy, Hally, dealing with his abusive alcoholic father and his relationship with Sam, who is more of a father figure than his dad. The film adaptation of Athol Fugard’s play directed by Lonny Price is an impactful piece of art and it truly compliments the play. In the scene of how we meet Hally who becomes concerned when he hears his dad is coming home from the hospital, we could see the director did such a great job at interpreting the play into a movie. What's significant about this scene is that it draws two major emotions - joy and anger- residing in the mind of Hally and it enhances the …show more content…

The camera mainly follows Hally. Hally would move toward the camera while the camera pans up, revealing his main role in the film which also helps the audience to focus what is significant at that given moment. Over the shoulder shots were used when Hally and Sam were having a conversation. These shots helps to establish the positions of Hally and Sam. It shows how Hally truly feels about his father coming back from the hospital as well as how Sam tried to help Hally. The use low-angle and high-angle shots when Hally and Willie were about to play the shooting game place the audience into the scene. The High-angle shot makes Hally seem like more powerful and the low-angle shot makes Willie seem less powerful. It also makes the scene more dramatic.
The scene took place inside the tea room. The room is decorated with pale yellow wallpapers to give it a 50s vibe and classic wooden table sets to create the retro atmosphere as in the play. The play was set around the apartheid, hence it makes sense to see some elements that are relevant to that era. Sam and Willie were wearing white waiter's coats and Hally was wearing a school uniform. The way Sam and Willie dress tells us that Sam is more like an important than Willie is because Willie dresses like he’s doing more physical works and he actually was doing more physical works. Willie was cleaning the floor and Sam was busy doing work in the

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