Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) and Mediterranea (Jonas Carpignano, 2015)

Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) is a drama/romance film that tells the story of Ali, and unemployed man who falls in love with a killer whale trainer. Ali is put in charge of his young son, so he leaves Belgium and heads to live with his sister until he can support himself. Ali bonds with Stephanie and their bond grows deeper after she suffers a horrible accident.

Mediterranea (Jonas Carpignano, 2015) is an Italian drama film that tells the story of two friends who cross the Mediterranean sea to immigrate to Italy, where they experience unexpected hostility from the locals.

Rust and Bone and Mediterranea both focus around many similar themes throughout the films such as masculinity, power and poverty. These are shown in a variety of ways which represent the male protagonists as similar to eachother. 

In both films, they show both protagonists love for their children. In Rust and Bone this happens after Sam's drowns, when Ali realises that he may have just lost his child, the one person he would do anything in the entire world for. This is powerful as he didn't show much emotion in the film until this point, when he breaks down in tears and the audience realise how vulnerable he is, which could affect his masculinity. The close up of Ali shows how much guilt he has as Ali starts crying and pleading towards Stephanie to stay with him on the phone. Similarly in Mediterranea, Ayiva starts to cry after seeing his daughter's reaction to the present he sent her home. Ayiva is shown crying again with a close up, which emphasises his emotions and vulnerability. This shows that Ayiva is ashamed of showing emotion, which Ali in Rust and Bone also did. These scenes are very vital each film as it shows how far both protagonists are willing to go for the well-being of their children.

Secondly, both protagonists in the two films are also shown in a state of poverty. At the beginning of Rust and Bone, it shows Ali searching through rubbish on a train to find food and supplies so he can support him and his son. A similar scene is shown in Mediterranea where Ayiva and Abas are shown to be travelling with other people who are shown to also be suffering in poverty as all of their costumes portray them to be poor. 

In Rust and Bone especially in the kick boxing fight, where Ali is shown to be demonstrating his masculinity. The strength of the masculinity is also emphasised using the editing techniques of slow motion which makes each hit inflicted look more brutal. Whereas in Mediterranea, the struggle for power is shown in the rioting where Ayiva and other members of the black community are shown rebelling against the Italians. This is seen is also important to due to it's representation of racism.

In conclusion, Rust and Bone and Mediterranea represent themes of masculinity, power and poverty.