Mantica - The Fugitive

The Fugitive begins with an establishing shot of the enormous city of Chicago, the setting of the film. Police sirens are heard. Suddenly, the film cuts to a black and white and slow-motion footage of a struggle or fight, and a woman in pain and peril. Immediately, we understand that this struggle is perhaps something horrific and we begin to assume the worst, perhaps it’s a murder. We come to this conclusion not just because of the actions, but because of elements of the mise-en-scene. For instance, on top of the black and white, there also seems to be a certain level of bloom or high illumination that makes things seem discomforting. As we assume when we watch black and white footage in color movies, the black and white is sometimes a dream, or a memory, something that already occurred. We assume this murder already took place. Meanwhile, as the film cuts back to the city of Chicago, the camera begins to move through the many skyscrapers in the city, closer and closer to a destination. The camera is leading us to the place of the murder.

The woman in peril is of course Richard Kimble’s (Harrison Ford) wife, who he has been accused of murdering. However, the movie established his innocence from the very first time we see the character. First of all, he is wearing black pants (and later we also see a black suit), different from those the attacker had on the black and white footage. Second, the attacker did not have a beard in the footage. But besides these elements in the story, the director Andrew Davis also uses elements of mise-en-scene to make us believe Kimble’s innocence. The first time we see the character, the camera proxemics come to a very personal level. We can see the pain in Kimble and we immediately feel empathy towards the character.

Later, as Kimble is interrogated, the framing remains at a close and personal level. We continue to feel sympathetic towards his character. The flashbacks to earlier in the night all but confirm his innocence towards us the audience. However, they also let us know that his character’s fate is sealed. In the trial, we get more flashes to the scene of the murder. These flashes now seem to represent the point of view of the prosecution, not of Kimble’s memories. The color values change for the flashes, this time they have a blue filter and not black and white, as if this time they are an interpretation of the facts and not a memory like before. It is clear that director Andrew Davis used many elements of mise-en-scene in the opening of the film to not only show the innocence of Richard Kimble, but to show his ultimate fate.