By Stephanie Rallison
From the clip of Hotel Babylon we can see it highlights the subject of illegal immigrants. We see another side to this subject with the emotive language from the clip, we learn the hotel staff care for the immigrants and understand they want to work and feel safe.
The opening scene shows two police officers guarding an entrance to a large storage room, one police officer says “we’re just here to stop anyone getting out”, as well as fast tension music slowly building up the audience become interested as the officers line is foreshadowing the next set of events which are yet to unfold.
Scene two shows the immigration officers entering the hotel, the camera zooms in on the officers immediately as they enter this is a way of pinpointing the enemy or a key moment, we see the officers walking in a triangle formation with the most dominant character leading the way while the two walk behind almost to represent henchmen. The main officer is wearing casual clothing this adds to his level of power over his henchmen who wear smart suits this can suggest they do their part clean and quietly while the leader does the talking. A member of the public lowers his newspaper to witness the immigration officers enter this adds to the theory that the officers are the enemy and trouble is getting closer. The hotel manager wears a white clean suit this can represent innocents however this makes her stand out more as the other workers wear black suits, this can suggest she is the dominant character in the hotel as she wears different clothing to everyone else.
The background music creates more tension and builds up as it begins to get faster leaving the audience focussed and to keep them interested. As the immigrants are being rushed into a small supply room the camera pans out over a metal gate, this foreshadows the outcome if one of the immigrants gets caught. From this angle we see this small supply room become a prison. The background music cuts off in every scene of the immigrants hiding in this small room these moments of diegetic sounds, as the door to the storage room is being locked the camera angle of all the immigrants in the room, this is done so the audience can hear the fear of deep breathing and prayers from the illegal staff as the rattling of the keys locks them in (an image of prison). As the immigrants enter the supply room (from this angle) there is not much detail/ focus on their faces this shows their identity being hidden which is similar to how they have lived, avoiding any officers so they won’t be caught also how prisoner lose their identity when they become known as a number not a name.
The main line “I wasn’t always a cleaner” is key about the lives of these immigrants. By one of the immigrants being a doctor shows he is an educated man and would have been in a high position in his country. This immigrant is breaking the stereotype of cleaners not being educated. By noticing small parts of this scene we can build up a background about the man’s life, he wears a wedding ring, this shows he has a family and respects his marriage as he is wearing the ring unlike some married men who don’t wear their wedding rings. In the background two immigrant workers are wearing red clothing which can symbolise danger or anger.
As one of the immigrants is caught, we can see how the officers who are the henchmen, doing all the work, have grabbed their man and are dragging him away as the main officer looks on grinning, knowing their job is done. The immigrant is wearing a red uniform like his fellow colleges the representation of danger and anger is shown as the worker struggles to break free as he knows what will happen next for him. The scene cuts off and we see Jackie (the woman hiding the immigrants) stroking the diabetic woman’s head, from this we see care and understanding from the Hotel Babylon staff while the immigration officers grab and act rough with Abraham (the immigrant who was caught). This shows they do not understand them and treat their job like a game which was boldly stated when the main officer says “you lost, rules of the game”. The immigration officers know they have a code so they can have some time to hide the immigrants as shown when the officers entered the hotel the main officer grinned at the manager as she sent a member of staff downstairs, the main officer knew that was their code to hide the immigrants.
The hotel manager saw some of the immigrants upstairs and told Jackie to take them downstairs this can suggest she does not think much about the immigrants but wants them away from the guests. She then snaps her fingers to try to regain control and get attention, she want to move on from the incident and focus on her job to keep the guests happy by getting them a free drink.
The last scene shows Abrahams locker being cleaned out, with violins being played in the background it shows this is a time for mourning the loss of a college. The camera angle is placed on behind the locker so the audience can see through the eyes of one of the immigrants. The number seventy five could represent the number of immigrant staff which they have lost, this shows the seriousness of immigrants working in the country and if it’s right to let them stay and work or are the immigration officers the good guys. With the key turning just like in the small supply room we see the end to Abraham’s time at hotel Babylon and the foreshadowing moment of the immigrants being locked away has been brought out.
In conclusion the scenes from Hotel Babylon give a good example of the subject of illegal immigrants working, the clip can create a lot of debate but I believe if immigrants should be allowed to work if they have the right reason to immigrate like Abraham had, if he didn’t leave his country he would have been killed.
