Textual Analysis For Thriller

Carlito’s Way

Carlito’s way is about a former gangster who is newly let out of prison a new man who is adamant that he are retired from the gangster lifestyle of dealing drugs and going straight to a dream to work for a car rental dealership in Miami, with just one catch. He needs $75,000 to put towards the business. How ever his past soon becomes part of who he presently is as old connections come back. This results in a much worse outcome than he expected.

The first opening scene of the film shows a established shot of the courtroom, this shows a shot of the judge jourey and the criminal , Carlito. This camera angle is used to show where the whole story began and how it changes the events in his life , as this is the critical stage where is let out of prison.

De Palma uses a variety of techniques to capture the best and crucial moments of the film at it’s best. Examples of these are;

An aerial shot - this is used at the prison scene when it shows Kleinfield going to a prison that is based on a barge out at sea. It shows from a high angle to show the importance of the character , however it begins rather close while following him down the straight path , then how ever zooms out to a very far established shot very quickly , to set the scene to show where he is going. This aerial show was done with the work of a helicopter as a crane could not perform this action so quickly.
Dutch tilts - From what I could see this technique was used twice. Once when Carlito was speaking to his friend in the wheelchair only to find out he had been betrayed and his ‘friend’ was wearing a wire device used to record him , in a rage Carlito grabs the man by his hair and gets closer to his face , the tilt is used to create an intensity between the two characters and to emphasize the disabled man’s wrong doing. The slightly lower angle also shows the authority of Carlito as in he may have been gone a long time but he still demands respect. The second time this camera shot was used was in the hospital scene when Kleinfield is killed in is bed, he reacts to a fake policeman and gets shot in the head , as his dead body is flailing to the one side the camera angle lowers and tilts slightly. I believe De Palma used this technique to portray how this was Kleinfield comeuppance once and for all after all his doing as the camera angle follows his dying corpse.
360 degree pans - This is used to try an show great importance in a particular scene by showing all its surroundings and aspects of the scene. In this case , De Palma uses this in the scene when an old acquaintance of Carlito’s joined by his four friends. They all sit at a round table , and the 360 pan goes round the whole table from a low angle to signify the importance of the characters at the table , this technique is used to show how many the characters at the table with Carlito were going to affect the situation of the film , I believe it is shown from a lower angle to also to give the sense to the audience that they are right there in the center of all of the chaos and they can feel the tension .
Crane shots - this is a good angle to use if you want to show what is going on in a room , in this case Carlito is taking some money out of a safe , the angle of the camera is at a high , this is used by cranes , this gives the audience a sense that they are there watching over Carlito as he tried to make his escape.
Dissolves - these are a good way to change from to scene to scene or create an effective ‘flashback’ scenario. In this case it is used when Carlito is walking through his club as he is on his was to meet an old friend. Remembering this friend it shows a flashback and it changes scene from a normal speed then dissolves the picture to the next scene and shows the flashback in slow motion , this to give the audience more time to absorb information from such a small clip.

Thought out the whole film Carlito uses narration at certain points where the film takes a bizarre turn or a crucial moment has occurred. I believe this is to show his thoughts and feelings about every situation , and give the audience sense that he is nothing special just a normal man with the wrong past .#