https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K99oV99ja2c
The link leads to a scene from the movie, Pulp Fiction, which is possibly my favorite movie of all time. The scene I chose is the scene where Butch and Marsellus get kidnapped and held hostage in the basement of a pawn shop. This scene is compelling to me for a variety of reasons. The scene starts out where Butch has escaped the basement and is about to leave the shop. There is about thirty seconds where Butch opens and closes the door and keeps looking back at the basement because he is not sure whether or not to help Marsellus. Marsellus has tried to kill him in the previous scene, so it was interesting that Butch tries to save him. There is no dialogue in this part of the scene but the repeated opening and closing of the door and the look on Butch's face perfectly captures the dilemma inside Butch. Butch is trying to decide a weapon he can use to save Butch and experiments with a few different weapons. There is a fantastic use of sound when Butch picks his weapon a choice which happens to be a katana. The camera is looking down at Butch from overhead while he looks up with a look of awe on his face. A saxophone starts playing which that sound builds up the excitement of what the weapon is going to be along with how we the audience sees the look of awe on Butch's face but we cannot yet see what he is looking at. There is great tension as Butch walks down to the basement with the sword in hand as we feel he can be attacked at any moment. When Butch gets to the door where Marsellus is we can hear sounds coming through the door but it is closed so we don't yet know what is going on. We are than horrified to see that Marsellus is being raped and Butch kills one of the rapists and has the other one held at sword point. The mood of the scene is very intense up until this point with the suspense of what is going to happen but when Butch takes control of the situation the mood of the scene changes to relief as we know feel safer that Butch has killed one rapist and can very easily kill the other. There is than a fantastic dialogue conversation between Butch and Marsellus where they put aside their differences and know they can move on. Marsellus very chillingly alludes to what he will do to the surviving rapist which is very satisfying and at the same time horrifying. The composition of the scene is perfect. When Butch is in the main floor of the shop it is very bright and has a safe feeling but as he gets to the basement it gets darker and feels less safe. The cinematography is perfect with great shots that build tension and perfectly shows character reactions. Everything is also very in camera such as when Butch kills the one rapist with the sword and Marsellus hoots the other one in the stomach with the shotgun. The scene does not shy away from showing these acts of violence. The sound is perfect as it builds tension and excitement with the examples stated earlier. Overall, it is a fantastic scene that has great writing, acting, tension, and is very well shot and lit. It is possibly my favorite movie scene of all time.
