Atonement Comparison

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The films “Atonement” (2007) and “Hanna” (2011) both directed by Joe Wright, closely looks at the idea of identity and how important a sense of self is. In the film “Atonement”, Briony Tallis was always sure in who she was and had a real sense of her individuality, However after her fictitious testimony against her older sister's boyfriend, Robbie Turner in which resulted in his arrest, Tallis is shipped off to london to become a nurse and as a result she is no longer sure about who she is. She is not known as “Briony” but rather “Nurse Tallis” and has no opportunity to express who she really is, nor has any real image of who she is either, something she immensely struggles with . In the film “Hanna”, The main character in the film named Hanna,…show more content…
She was raised, educated and trained by her father, Erik and she has restricted to the only world she has ever known and one way of living and that’s in the Finnish wilderness. Her father sends her on a mission, which sends her on a journey across Europe bypassing agents sent to find her by callous operative, Marissa Vieglar. Throughout the movie we journey with Hanna as she interacts with different people and is thrown into different situations that her life training as an assassin had never trained her for. As she hones in on the objective, Hanna comes face to face about the scandals of her existence and begins to question who she really is. Throughout the movie we watch Hanna follow the decisions that others have made for her, but as the movie progresses, She slowly begins to gain more confidence and starts to trust her own feelings. After the scene where her father dies, Hanna surely but subtly begins to find her own feet. The ending of the film, which includes intense action and dialogue between Hanna and Marissa Weiglar, is the scene where we see Hanna form her own identity and discover what she wants for herself and who she wants to be. Dialogue that shows this is when Hanna and Marissa are standing opposite each other, Hanna at gunpoint by Marissa and Hanna pointing a knife-like weapon towards Marissa. Hanna says “I don’t want to fight anymore”. This is where we see Hanna…show more content…
In Atonement, The scene directly after her confrontation with Sister Drummond, We see her leaning on a window pondering at the environment that is on the other side of the glass panel. She then repeats what sister drummond yelled at her feintly, “There is no briony”. The lighting on this particular scene is dark with light being shone on certain parts of her face while the rest remains hidden in darkness. The effect this has on the character is to show the fact that the situation Briony is now facing has resulted in part of who she is, is being lost. With her not seeing herself in her reflection and the viewer not being able to see parts of her face either, it shows that she is unsure of who she is anymore. The lighting in this scene is used in metaphor-like way to back up the idea of the importance of identity, as Briony struggles to see her reflection with light partially shining on her face, it’s a symbol of her struggling with her identity and the struggle of clearly knowing who she is. Something like this can hold someone back. Without a clear sense of their identity they aren’t able to live to their full potential because they are not sure of what they want in life, who they are and their values and

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