Textual Analysis: The Hamburg Cell (2004, Directed by Antonia Bird)

For this textual analysis, I watched the opening sequence of the film 'The Hamburg Cell'. This film is in the thriller genre due to the various conventions portrayed in the film.








Firstly, the first scene the audience see in the film is a group of foreign men driving towards an unknown destination. While this takes place diagestic sound is edited into the scene. High tempo music can be heard throughout their journey which gives the impression to the audience that they are the way to perform a heist of some sort. However, this is not clear as the director has purposefully left the audience asking questions and wandering what is about to happen after they arrive. As well as this, whilst the group are driving, the camera shows a establishing shot of the whole city to let the audience know where the film is set and a great percentage of the audience will recognise the city and instantly get an idea of what the film is going to be about.






Another scene in the opening sequence of the film shows a group of men in a religious environment. The audience can tell this as again, diagestic music is once heard, however this time in the shape of violins. Whilst the violins are being heard, a religious, wise elderly man is preaching and even maybe brainwashing to the group of men about the pain and suffering certain military groups have caused. The violins combined with the elderly preacher's dialogue give off an hatred and eerie feel to the scene. As well as this, throughout the speech real life cut scenes of people who have been brutally murdered are shown and are portrayed as being the imagination of the group of men. All in all, the cut scenes provide the viewers with a better insight into what the preacher is talking about. Diagestic sound plays a major role in the overall feel of suspense in this film. To mark the start of the imaginational real life cut scenes, the preacher character forms his hand in the shape of a gun and pretends to shoot. A real gunshot sound is added to this range of movement by the character which I feel entices the viewer.