Putting a person in a specific, parallel environment will define how they will grow and change to adapt to their new surroundings. Some will change and adjust rather easily while others may not be so lucky and have to struggle to make their lives better. In times of hardship and poverty, the determined will do anything they can for relief, money, power and overall success. Three films that demonstrate this are The Grapes of Wrath, El Norte, and City of God. In these films, characters struggle to find their idea of “paradise” or their “Promised Land”. The Grapes of Wrath is a film about a family who is forced off of their farms and out of their home due to the immense draught that has plagued the Midwest during the Great Depression. The actors in this film were not made up to look like the typical perfect Hollywood type. They look like real farmers and hardworking people and the lighting is manipulated to show this. The family, the Joad’s, travel from Oklahoma all the way to California when they hear about the jobs and opportunities out there. Throughout their journey they face a lot of difficulties in keeping their supplies and money at a constant flow. They stop to work small farming and harvesting jobs along the way but never make enough money. They keep their hope alive and the family close so that no one is left behind as they finally reach a dreary camp for people to find work. The main character, Tom, who was just released from prison, gets into a fight with another worker and knows he can not stay with the family because it will get all of them into trouble, so he goes off on his own. Tom is willing to risk the possibility of getting caught on his own so that the family does not have to suffer even more. There is a clear notion that the idea of his family comes first when he does this. The Joad’s are very disappointed in the work camp they are on because it is so dismal, the pay keeps getting cut, all the workers look tired and lifeless and it is not the “Promised Land” they were told California would be, but they push on for each other and try to make the best of it. The film uses a paradox to show this when the family first arrives to the camp. They enter hopeful and happy they finally found work. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it seems as if it will all come together for them but as they drive through, the workers look lifeless, tired, worn down and grubby. In the final scene, there is a long shot of Tom leaving the family alone symbolizing his constant hope and despair in his struggle for a better life. It also symbolizes his search for somewhere he belongs. El Norte is a film about a family from Guatemala who becomes involved in the militant violence and the parents are killed. Rosa and Enrique, who are siblings, are left alone and want to escape the fate that they know will surround them. They know they have each other and do not want to lose one another. They keep their hopes alive as they set out to their own personal paradise: The North. To them, America represents freedom and overall success and happiness. They are willing to struggle through the harsh journey that is ahead of them just to escape the poverty and violence of their home. Their aunt gives them her savings for their trip knowing that it is best for them to leave, proving their strong bond and how important family is. Along their travels, they meet someone who could guide them to America, but they end up getting robbed and beaten by him. Then they get sent to immigration and sent back to Mexico. When they are in the sewers trying to make it across, they deal with the dirt, smell, and get attacked by rats. Even through all their struggles they keep their hope alive and keep moving on together. During the scene when the rats attack, there is cross cutting between them in the sewers and the helicopter soaring above them showing all the troubles they have to face and all the risks they make just for the possibility of having a better life. When they come close to the end of the sewer, there is a shot of the end of the tunnel symbolizing the “light at the end of the tunnel” and showing that they are finally in what they think is paradise. The long shot of San Diego shows how they view this new place as almost magical and full of life. When they reach their destination they face the issues of finding work and learning English. There is more cross cutting between how Rosa and Enrique deal with the changes and how they are improving. Enrique gets a good job at a restaurant and Rosa gets a job at a cleaners/tailor shop. Rosa faces the issue of the shop getting raided by immigration while Enrique has a man from his job that is jealous of how he is improving call immigration so that he could take Enrique’s job. Enrique finds a new and better job in Chicago, but has a hard time deciding if he can leave his sister. Rosa ends up in the hospital drying from the rat bites so he stays for her. In the end, there is a subjective montage of Enrique working hard labor as a construction worker and him dreaming of his homeland and what has happened to him in the past. This suggests that he may be doomed in both places and that he is feeling like he is never really going to be truly free. The final film, City of God, is about a city in Brazil that is tarnished with poverty, violence, drugs and gangs. It follows the Italian Neo-realism style of filming in the sense that most of the actors in the film are not professional actors, but small time actors that probably have never acted before this film. It also follows the Italian Neo-realism style as it being shot on location to keep the realism of the city. It is full of people who are homeless and go there knowing they will be able to live there. There is such a sense of desperation that the people will rob anyone and everyone. Even the kids of the town carry guns and hold up stores and trucks. The main character, Rocket, was never one to get himself involved in the violence and drugs even though all people surrounding him, including his friends and family, would antagonize him about being a coward. As time went by, more and more violence came to the City of God as each gang would overthrow the next. The best example of this time passing and people coming and going, and getting killed is the scene in which it shows how Lil Ze, formally Lil Dice, came to be the boss of the drug empire. It starts out as just a woman’s apartment in which she dealt drugs. The apartment was nicely furnished and pretty well kempt. The people are faded, or dissolved, into and out of the scene as they come and go and the apartment gets passed on to the next person. Also as the time passes, the apartment becomes more and more dingy and disheveled. The violence keeps getting worse and all Rocket wants to do is get himself out of the City and become a big time photographer. He puts himself in a lot of danger with Lil Ze by taking pictures of the City of God and Lil Ze with his gang. He then goes to the newspaper and sends the photos in. During these scenes, there are a lot of subjective view shots where the viewer sees what Rocket sees, but through his camera. This is done as a way to show that this is Rocket’s view of his own way of stepping up, not being a coward, and getting himself out of the place he has hated for so long. The film ends with Rocket becoming famous for taking a photograph of Lil Ze dead, who was shot numerous times by the youngest members of his own crew. It has been said that the space a person is put into will define their character and how they adapt to their surroundings. Some will grow and become successful, some crack under the pressure and fail. The Grapes of Wrath, El Norte, and City of God are three films that exemplify how people react to their surroundings, in both good and bad ways. In each of these films the characters struggle to survive and have an all around better life for themselves and their families. Determined people, such as the characters of these films, will stop at nothing while trying to improve their state of being.