School Ties, 1992, Robert Mandel
Just Because You're Accepted Doesn't Mean You Belong. Directed by Robert Mandel, School Ties is the story of a Jewish boy who goes to a Christian prep school to play football and is forced to hide his religion to gain acceptance by his peers – needless to say, this doesn’t work out for long. The beginning of the film is an establishing shot of a bleak cemetery in the middle of a working class neighborhood – knowing the background, we can understand that it’s a Jewish cemetery. David Greene (Brendan Fraser) is introduced in an over-the-shoulder shot as he drives his car and sings along to the radio. This is an unusual camera angle because the audience sees his face in the windshield’s reflection, which suggests that he is going to be the unusual or oddball character in the story.
Within the first five minutes of the movie, we witness a fight scene that combines several camera angles: dolly shots as they round the corner to the alley, medium shots, reaction shots and over-the-shoulder shots from the spectators looking at the fight. The constant cutting back and forth between the shots and the loud volume of the fight itself creates a sense of chaos.
As the film progresses, but while David’s religion is still hidden from his peers, most of the scenes show large groups of people either spending time together in common areas or playing football. These scenes are medium shots through a wide-angle lens. Though there are many people in every shot, they are sometimes blurred in the background while the main action takes place in the foreground. For example, in the dance scene, David meets Sally Wheeler (Amy Locane) and talks to her briefly before asking her to dance. This is one of the few times where over-the-shoulder shots are used when the two are talking. This may be used to foreshadow a bond greater than just friendship.
To show David’s internal struggle with religion and being accepted by his peers, close up shots are used to show him thinking about his next move. Most of the meaning is found in his eyes, so the audience is drawn to them in the close shots. Given that religion is a sensitive but central subject in this film, the reaction shots are key to understanding the characters. For example, when David and some of his friends are in a room singing along to a song, and someone asks how much the record cost, McGivern states the price but adds that he “Jew’d it down” – meaning that he bargained it down to a lower price. Immediately following this statement, the camera cuts to a reaction shot of David turning around as he tries to hide his hurt at that statement... it is clear, though, that he is sensitive to those kinds of statements.
Moving shots follow characters from scene to scene and help the audience understand each character’s motives. For example, when we follow Charlie Dillon (Matt Damon), we come to see that he picks up on the differences between him and David faster than others.
The most climactic point of the movie comes in a shower scene when Charlie calls David out for being a Jew, and lying to everyone on the team about it. Through a series of medium shots (that are just at the stomach-level!) there is a lot of movement by the camera that shows a release of tension in a display of anger. The two fight each other and when David eventually knocks Charlie to the ground, we briefly see Charlie from a high angle shot, giving David physical power over him after Charlie’s slew of insults. It is interesting, though, how after being revealed to be a Jew, the number of people in each shot seems to decrease. In the shots with David, there are barely any other people. The effect that this has is that it exaggerates David’s isolation as an identified Jew.
Towards the end of the movie, the tone becomes more somber as the once openly racist jokes become deeply embedded prejudices in David’s peers. Yet the parting words Charlie and David share are filmed in a way that give David the upper hand: filmed from a low shot, Charlie’s shown to be looking up to David, which gives him greater power and presence in the scene. Moreover, the high angle that we see Charlie from is also partially obstructed by the car window frame – so his status is lowered further. David emerges from this battle as the victor, but there are still deeply engrained prejudices that he will continue to fight. The closing full shot and accompanying music lets the audience know that his journey has just begun.
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