Within its first six minutes, Moonlight establishes not just character and environment. It also introduces the relationship between them as one of the main themes of the film. The conflict, between who we are and what our environment forces us to be, rules the life of our protagonist: named ‘Little’ in the first section of the film, ‘Chiron’ in the second, ‘Black’ in the last.

Through three acts, the film Moonlight (2016) explores three periods of the life of the lonely and sensitive Chiron, who faces the difficult intersectionality of growing up poor, black and gay in late 1980s Miami. From a distance, this seems like a very specific story. However, through the narrative, Barry Jenkins’ semi-biographical feature depicts a disarmingly intimate portrayal of many social and personal hardships.

Anatomy of Scene -Barry Jenkins

‘This is the story of a lifetime.‘ On the surface, the tagline for Barry Jenkins’ second feature Moonlight is rather bland. But as with many aspects of this film, it is a layered statement. What is a lifetime? In the final third of this triptych of his life, the central character Chiron is a young man in his twenties. Is that a lifetime? Yet by the time of that final meeting, the drug-dealing Chiron’s life has started to mimic that of Juan, his surrogate father in the first third, but also the man who fueled his mother’s drug habit. A subtle reference in the middle part, a few years onward, makes it clear that Juan is dead, the cause of death clearly implied in his chosen trade. Is this the film telling us that Chiron’s life will also be cut short, and it is indeed the story of a shortened lifetime? The ambiguity in the final shot leaves this question about his future open.

There’s an inherent visual tension in the look of Barry Jenkin’s “Moonlight.” Set in the harsh realities of Liberty City, an impoverished section of Miami where Jenkins and co-writer Tarell McCraney grew up, the sun-drenched neighborhood is filled with bright pastel colors and lush, tropical green trees and grass.

Though Jenkins masterfully brought Tarell Alvin McCraney's brilliant play to life for the screen, he had a powerhouse team of technical artists by his side to make Moonlight the lyrical film that it is. Cinematographer James Laxton and editors Joi McMillion and Nat Sanders, all of whom have been nominated for an Oscar for their work on the film, employ techniques like fluid and frenetic camera movement and disjointed editing to not only give the story more dimension, but to also elicit certain emotions in the audience.

There are many films that have a strong impact on the social problems we face today.
These films evoke thought, display hardships, and allow us to reflect on the people around us.
We see these real-life problems come to light in the film, Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016), as the
main character, Chiron Harris, faces many difficulties with his socioeconomic status and his
sexual identity. Director Barry Jenkins provides an honest portrayal of what it is like to grow up
as a minority, and he also shows the struggles that most people face when trying to figure out
who they are.

Most often, water represents cleansing, life and freedom. Water is a contextual symbol in literature, however, meaning that it can symbolize many things depending on how it is used in a novel or a story.

In 2013, talking to me about her Tony-winning production of Metamorphoses, the director Mary Zimmerman explained why water played such a pivotal role in the staging of the show. “Water has everything to do with change—in virtually every culture it’s a symbol of change,” she said. “In Shakespeare … water is symbolic in terms of crossing a rubicon, and of transformation. In a lot of cultures it’s where you go to meet the gods, because they come out of water.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about this after watching Moonlight, a film in which water is a recurring and potent symbol of rebirth, transformation, and release.

The story of Moonlight invites the audience to follow the life of a character who’s young, black, queer and who feels so alienated from the world around him that he can’t see himself as he is. The life of Chiron is delicately revealed by cinematographer James Laxton who portrays him within a distinct pallet of blown out color photographs that set his life in a faded part of Miami where screenwriter and director Barry Jenkins was raised. With shots burned by lens flares and bold camerawork viewers are a reminded that being personal in every level can help a story resonate with an audience.