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Á Propos de Nice
Á Propos de Nice, directed by Jean Vigo, is a documentary whose aim was to expose the social injustices in society. Aerial photography marks the beginning of the documentary, and as it progresses, the view of trees and waves at the shore of the ocean becomes the focus of the camera. The primary focus of the documentary is people and the activities they are involved in. Class difference is portrayed by the contrast of activities that the documentary focuses on. Analysis of the lives of the characters in the documentary was the primary goal of the documentary.
The contemporary world, in most cases, is made up of the rich and the poor. Starting with the rich, the documentary focuses on what they mostly do. It shows the rich relaxing by the beaches. Viewers of the documentary see some of the rich people walking along the beach with happy faces, laughing and smiling at each other. Others sail in boats while others play happily with their family and friends. The message that the documentary portrays is that happiness is the way of life for the rich. Life for them is so easy that they don’t have to put effort today to ensure that they will have food and all basic needs tomorrow.
On the other hand, the documentary focuses on the other end of people’s economic lives in society, the poor. At this end, poverty, struggle, and oppression are portrayed. Poverty within the homes of the characters covered in the documentary starts in their homesteads. The quarters referred to as their homes are in no way comparable to good. Viewers see women busy with their daily chores. Most likely, the women are doing the chores they do to earn payment for the day, or they do the chores because they have no money to hire labor.
Viewers also see children of the poor playing simple games on the streets. The children’s safety is not assured because they are alone in the streets, with no one watching over them. The condition exposes them to injuries from locomotives across the streets and might expose them to dangers and risks of being kidnapped. Comparing the lives of the children of the rich and the poor, one can conclude that it is only those that are rich can explore the world, exploit their talents, and get into the highest positions in life because their stars shine and get noticed due to the chances they have in life.
The documentary was worth making because it had a noble purpose of telling the truth as it is by explaining the social statuses of people in the world today. The theme of social injustice is brought out clearly by the physical activities shown in the documentary. The poor have to work hard and long hours to sustain the rich as they seek to earn money for their daily needs. It is almost inhuman how the physical and hard labor is rewarded with so little pay. The rich spend the more significant amount of their time enjoying themselves but carry the largest share of salaries, commissions, and wages. The documentary also shows that the producer was denied access to Casinos where the rich spend time. That meant that there are places or amenities that the poor cannot or rather are not supposed to attend. Questions such as whether there might be activities that the rich do when in such places as casinos that they would not like the poor to know might be asked. Though there is no much change from social construction, the documentary created managed to shed light on what is happening.