Author: June Chen, a Media and Communication studies student in Xi'an Jiaotong-liverpool University.
Rosetta, as a famous realism film created by the Dardenne brothers, focuses on a Belgian background that has experienced the worst recession since World War II at the end of the 20th century. Rosetta, a young girl who has been unemployed for along time, looks for three or four days fragments of working life. The Dardenne use documentary forms to show the social problems of the working class in the context of capitalist exploitation in the neoliberal world. The life experience of the Dardenne brothers allows "humanistic care for small real people" to permeate Rosetta's theme selection and shooting style, thus showing the mental and material miserable situation of the unemployed workers represented by Rosetta. Rosetta reveals the humanistic sentiments from the selection of themes and the shooting techniques, which is related to the hometown of the Dardenne brothers and the religious philosophy the Dardenne brothers accepted.
The film's extremely strong humanistic care spirit has received a lot of attention.The Dardenne brothers' entire filmmaking career has shown their strong awareness of individual and collective responsibilities in interpersonal relationships (Mosley, 2013).
Seraing,the hometown of the Dardenne brothers, and the people there have had a strong impact on the Dardenne (Elstob, 2015). Seraing was originally an industrial town, but as the post-industrial era began in the 1970s, Belgium was facing industrial adjustment and reorganization. After the strike of the rolling mills, a large number of factories were closed, workers were unemployed, and air pollution, food and clothing and public security problems in the entire town followed. The Dardenne brothers are so attached to the town of Seraing (Elstob,2015). What Seraing experienced had let them know the insignificance of the working class in the face of neoliberalism and the bourgeoisie, and aroused their curiosity about the marginalized. Luc believes that the brutal individual competition under this system has led to a situation that vulnerable and marginalized people are deprived of meaningful identities in society (Mosley,2013). These situations they were familiar with become their subject of most movies in the future. They use a large number of marginal working-class groups as the blueprint for their works, including Rosetta which embodies the situation of unemployed workers. However, not only workers, but Seraing series of experiences also made them care about and respect "people",especially those on the margins of society.
Furthermore,the thoughts of the Dardenne brothers were deeply influenced by Christianity and various philosophical thoughts, thus internalizing the thought of humanism. First of all, the Dardenne brothers received a strong Catholic education sincethey were young. The Puritan elements of religion and the education they received still imprinted the thoughts of the Dardenne brothers, such as "treating others as human beings"(Elstob,2015). Then the Dardenne brothers studied film and philosophy separately during their college years,which makes the main reference points when creating their films often are literature and philosophy, as well as movies or general visual arts (Mosley,2013). Among them, in Dardenne 's films, the key figure in any ethical discussion is Levinas(Mosley, 2013). Levinas advocates exploring new perspectives for people to understand themselves and discovering the philosophical value of others. Levinas believes that only by moving from the self to the other and assuming the ethical responsibility for the other can justice and peace in the true sense be achieved (Levinas, 1969). This makes their films responsible for realism in their films, which recognizes the humanity of others and maintains dreams for the future(Mosley, 2013).
The experience of the Dardenne brothers before they started their film care erallowed plant humanistic care spirit to be rooted in their thoughts and put them into practice in the film production. As their representative work, Rosetta reflects their humanistic care in the selection of themes, script creation and shooting techniques.
Firstly, Rosetta's theme is the problem of worker unemployment. The layoffs in Belgium in the 1970s were the most severe social crisis. The main line of the story is about Rosetta's continuous journey from unemployment to re-employment and then unemployment again. Everything Rosetta has experienced through out the film truly reflects the social status quo of many unemployed workers, who become marginalized people but constantly struggling to survive in an attempt to enter the mainstream society. It is full of humanistic care for marginalized people.
Secondly,in terms of script and shooting skills, Rosetta shows a lot humanistic care. The Dardenne brothers start with a character, not a plot. They eschew traditional narrative endings and are not afraid to approach their beleaguered characters, both visually and figuratively(Mosley, 2013).
Meanwhile, in terms of shooting, the most distinctive visual expression in the Dardenne Brothersfilm is the hand-held camerawork. As a result, a large number of defocused shots, shaking shots, a large number of close-ups and irregular composition replacements are produced. The use of hand-held camerawork from the perspective of a real long follow-up allows the viewer to ponder Rosetta and the perplexities of human nature in real situations through the shaking of the camera. For example, we follow the camera behind or to the side of Rosetta, objectively feeling the steps of her life and the heavy breathing.
Every time she receives unfair treatment, conflicts with her mother, or exposes her friends, the moving camera will slowly goes in front of her.
With the careful inspection of the camera, the audience turns from a passive observation to a subjective concern. The Dardenne's film might be thought of as a machine for making empathy(Mai, 2010).The profound human meaning is produced by the audience's inner experience ofthe characters, rather than the director trying to graft this meaning into the film from a comfortable distance(Mosley, 2013). The whole film allows the audience to follow the characters' psychology and actions with the help of the script and shooting methods, so that audience can understand the characters themselves and their circumstances to see the current situation of society. People on the margins of society are truly respected by the director and brought to the audience as completely as possible, which is full of humanistic and spiritual care.
The humanistic care of the Danes makes Rosetta a mirror reflecting the real society, which has caused great social repercussions. In the end, the Belgian government formally passed the "Rosetta Plan" in June 2001 to protect the rights of unemployed youths. At the same time, the Dardenne brothers continued to pay attention to the turbulent life of the margins of society,with their humanistic care, and created Children, Bicycle Boys and other masterpieces that will affect later generations...
Reference List:
Dardenne,J. (Producer/Screenwriter/Director) & Dardenne,L.(Producer/Screenwriter/Director). (1999). Rosetta. [Movie]. France: ARP Sélection.
Elstob, K. (2015). Committed cinema: the films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Essays and interviews, Studies in European Cinema, 12(1), 85-87, doi: 10.1080/17411548.2014.973693
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne • Directors of Young Ahmed [Image]. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.google.com.hk/search?q=Jean-Luc+and+Pierre+Dardenne&newwindow=1&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivt5KpkJ7uAhWMxYsBHeveBGoQ_AUoAXoECAcQAw&biw=1368&bih=769#imgrc=uYrj3Glldv9EzM
Levinas,E. (1969). Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, trans. AlphonsoLingis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
Mai,J. (2010). Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Mosley,P. (2013). The Cinema of the Dardenne Brothers: Responsible Realism. London and New York: Wallflower Press.
