Works Cited

Craddock, Jim. “Snatch.” Video Hound’s Golden Movie Retriever. (2008): 867. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 23 April 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu:2255/ps/i.do?&id=GALE>.

Dvdactive: Snatch. 2011. Web. 16 April 2011. <http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/snatch2.html>.

McDonagh, Maitland. “Film Review for Snatch.” TV Guide. Web. 15 April 2011. <http://movies.tvguide.com/snatch/review/135012>.

Snatch. Dir. Guy Ritchie. Perf. Brad Pitt, Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina. 2001. Columbia Pictures Corporation. 2011. DVD.

The Internet Movie Database: Snatch. 2011. Web. 8 April 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/>.

Anything To Declare?

“Yeah, don’t go to London.”

I would like to declare that this is a wonderful film, and should be enjoyed to it’s fullest, but because of its fast pace, most reviews have said that the plot is just too hard to follow because of Guy Ritchie’s “Stream-of-consciousness directing techniques”(Craddock 867), it would help viewers understand the interweaving plot if it is broken down, one must be aware of the story in the story, within the story…

First we start with Frankie Four Fingers stealing an 86- carat diamond. Then he calls in a diamond dealer, Cousin Avi, to sell him the diamond.

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Borris The Blade is hired to steal the diamond from Frankie,

introducing the story of Sol, Vince, and Tyrone.

Borris hires Vince and Sol to rob a “four fingered man with a briefcase at a bookies.”

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Sol and Vince bring Bricktop into their life by robbing his bookie.

Tyrone is able to kidnap Frankie and the three of them steal the diamond from him, but Borris takes the diamond from them. When Bricktop confronts them for robbing his Bookies, they promise him the diamond, and spend the rest of the film finding the diamond and losing it again to Tony and Cousin Avi.

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The other story is about Turkish and Tommy. All Turkish wants to do is buy a Car-a-Van from the gypsies, this introduces them to Mickey, a bare-knuckle boxer, who agrees to fight for them through Bricktop’s underground boxing ring.

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But instead of taking the dives in the fixed fight like he’s supposed to, Mickey continues to knock out his opponents unleashing Bricktop’s fury onto the three of them.

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Cousin Avi contacts his cousin, Doug the Head in London and comes down to find Frankie after Frankie never checks back in with him. The cousin’s hire Bullet Tooth Tony to help them find Frankie or the diamond. This takes them around town, through Bricktop’s boxing ring, and into Sols and Vincent’s way battling with them and Borris for the diamond.

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Going into the film with the knowledge of these intertwining stories that come together in a circular plot through twists of fate with a giant 86-carat diamond as the central motif, fill in with little quips of British humor, such as Bricktop not taking sugar in his tea because he is “sweet enough”, and you’ve got one heck of a film, I hope this synopsis helps you follow along and enjoy Snatch.

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Why do they call him the Bullet Dodger?

“’Cause he dodges bullets Avi…” Said Bullet Tooth Tony.

Names and Nicknames are very significant in this movie.

For instance, there’s Turkish. He explains the wired meaning of his name by saying; “My parents to be were on the same plane when it crashed. That's how they met.” They named him after the name of the plane, but the significance behind it is that he was named for the hectic emotional chanceful situation. In effect, his life is hectic, emotional, and led by chance. Then there’s Tommy. Turkish narrates; “He tells people he was named after a gun, but I know he was really named after a famous 19th century ballet dancer.” To name a man after something so feminine and elegant as a ballet dancer, in this case became the opposite of Tommy’s fate. He is awkward instead of graceful, and does not take center stage in his life, but is a sidekick.

Most other characters in the film’s names have both literal and contradicting interpretations.

Literal: Borris the Bullet Dodger- Literally can dodge bullets, and is a sneaky spy that is able to dodge dangerous entrapments and situations.

Contradicting: Gorgeous George- Gets knocked out in a fight in the first fifteen minutes of the film and spends the rest of the time with his face swollen, ugly, and encased in a metal brace to reset his broken jaw.

Literal: Frankie Four Fingers- Has four fingers on his right hand because, “he makes stupid bets with dangerous people, and when he can’t pay up, they give him the chop!” Obviously he is a gambler and unlucky at that, ironically if you think about it his four fingers could symbolize a four-leaf clover.

Then there is Bricktop- he is self-described as a “horrible cunt”, and a “nemesis”. This character is the “bad guy” of the film, feared by all who know about him. Hard like a brick and top of the underground boxing ring. He is the epitome of evil and callousness that provides a wonderful opposition for the good guys in the film, Turkish and his assistant Tommy.

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London?

“Yes London. You know, bad food, worse weather, Mary Fucking Poppins, London!” A thorough description of London as perceived by Cousin Avi Denovitz from New York.

Let’s break down Cousin Avi’s stereotypes, the first being the bad food. There is only one reference to anything edible in the movie, and funny enough, it plays a very important role. Milk. One scene in the movie is Turkish drinking a pint of milk and choking on it when Tommy accelerates. Tommy mistakenly interprets his choking to be caused by the drink and not his driving; and proceeds to explain to Turkish that he shouldn’t be drinking milk since cows have only been domesticated the past few hundreds of years, “the human digestive system hasn’t got used to processing dairy.” So he does Turkish a “favor” by throwing his bad milk out the window, causing an accident that involves all the other characters in the story to interact with each other.

Let’s move on to the weather. When Cousin Avi lands in London, he expresses his extreme distaste for being there. He only likes traveling to places with “warm sandy beaches and little umbrellas”, and when Cousin Doug meekly informs him that London has “sandy beaches”; Avi is explicit in not being interested in settling for the cold shores.  London’s notorious gloomy weather is portrayed as most outdoor scenes in the film show gray cloudy skies, and lots of puddles. Turkish and Tommy even have to fashion themselves “special shoes” of trash bag covers when traveling out to a field to meet with Mickey. The lack of sunshine only enhances the bleak outcomes of the characters existence. Since most of them will end up dead, or arrested, the dark gray scenes are good for setting an unhappy tone.

And Mary Poppins, well- let’s just leave it at her being a fictional cinematic character that portrays London’s proprieties and epitomizes it’s old fashioned mannerisms of the British that is expected around the world. She does however; provide a splayed contrast to most every character since nobody has any manners, propriety, or morals! Showing a truer side of London’s culture.

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Where Is The Stone?

The opening scene of the film is a pair of gentlemen who have somehow come across a 86-carat diamond. One of the gentlemen, named Turkish, asks the audience,

“What do I know about diamonds?”

This films theme is all about juxtaposing irony. What I mean is that all the characters are involved in a figurative paring of double-crossing and double-dealing. All the various parties are pursuing their own personal agendas involving diamond, but the substories and lives continue to intertwine and weave together as this stone passes through, by and around their lives.

Everyone’s life is all about that what if moment or the next step, or “luck”. They go left instead of right and lose the sight of the stone, and as all the characters are motivated by greed, the rewarding of the stone to the person or group who are unluckiest of all and who have no actual knowledge of the stone and are in no way pursuing it, is ironic.

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Snatch

     The movie Snatch is in my opinion one of the most beautifully directed films ever shot. I absolutely love the different angles and freeze frames that Director Guy Ritchie uses to enhance the unfolding story of a diamond. This movie is filled with quick quips of British humor that is so sarcastic and smart-alecky that it keeps you laughing while you are trying to figure out and guess at what's going to happen next! The film starts out with two men and a diamond, and the movie then proceeds to go back in time tracking the series of events that leads up to the diamond being in thier hands. But, my absolute favorite aspect of this movie... Brad Pitt takes his shirt off in almost every scene he stars in! Need I mention more?

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