Worth watching. Enjoy the music.

Rating: Null/10 (29 January 2007)

Eminem plays a young rap artist called Jimmy 'B-Rabbit' Smith Jr. who lives in Detroit and works for a metal-stamping factory, dreaming of signing a contract with a record company. The main plot is how he comes to overcome fear inside him, trust own potential, and go beyond the boundary on his own.
The setting of this film is Detroit in 1995. Detroit once thrived on the auto industry but when reasonable and safe Japanese cars flew into the market in 1970s, Detroit was hit by a depression and a number of workers got dismissed, and companies went bankrupt one after another. The downtown was full of homeless people and public order was completely destroyed. The rich moved out to the suburbs, and the poor were left in the downtown. Detroit marked the highest crime rate in the U.S., and had turned into a declining city where racism, drugs, riots, and poverty prevailed. The title of this movie comes from the name of an existing road called 8 Mile. Detroit is located to the south of 8 Mile Road, and most of the citizens there are black, and a quarter of them live in poverty. To the north is a town of white people called Warren. These two towns are divided by 8 Mile Road and therefore it is known as a boundary which separates those two races and economy.
8 Mile is a realist film in that it is filmed with a low degree of manipulation, focusing on content rather than form or technique. It satisfies the three elements of realist films; simplicity, spontaneity, and directness. Hanson tries to mirror the actual Detroit as much as possible and we can also see a remarkable similarity between Jimmy and Eminem.
The movie is lit in low key in most scenes to connote fear, confusion, anger, irritation, agony inside Jimmy and the atmosphere of the declined, disordered downtown of Detroit.
The editing style Hanson has employed in 8 Mile is a mix-up of realism and classicism; cutting to continuity and classical cutting are both seen in the film. Since the focus of this film is on the change inside Jimmy, we need to look at his facial expressions closely. Classical cutting lets us approach him close enough examine the look on his face.
The plot is loose with no clearly defined beginning, middle, or end. A neatly structured tale with glib happy endings and miracles is not Silver wanted for 8 Mile, he wanted a "like life," "manipulated" touch. The story ends when Jimmy promises himself that he will go beyond 8 Mile someday, and does not proceed to the point where he achieves his goal.
The themes - The most highlighted message is that it is important to trust own potential and transcend the limits you have set. First Jimmy does not have full confident in his talent and he runs off the club before the rap battle. He does not know whether he should keep pursuing his dream or give it up and live a life without risks working at a factory, rapping in a local club with his friends. There are two scenes in which he asks his friend, "Do you ever wonder at what point you got to stop living up here and start living down here?" As the story approaches its end, he comes to realize that he should not wait for things to happen and that he himself need to take action now on his own.
The story also teaches us that it is important to control own fear in order to succeed. Jimmy has a lot of fear inside him at first, but learns to put it aside and do what is needed. The film also shows that fear can be both harmful and productive. When we know there is a possibility of failing, most people feel frightened. If the fear takes control over you, the fear only becomes an obstacle. However, if you can control your fear, it can work as a motivation to make efforts. Considering a case of failing is frightening, so it drives you to make every endeavor to stay away from it. The men in the Free World has no fear and do not make efforts to improve their rap skills believing nobody in the club can beat them. On the other hand, Jimmy struggles in fear of failing and make careful preparation writing down lyrics. His efforts eventually bring him a victory. Watching this film, we also realize the importance of people who support us as we face a challenge. It is not always easy to cope with own fear, and sometimes we need someone who will push our back to move forward. When Alex looked him in the eye and told him that she truly thinks he will succeed, it gave him courage; that was exactly what he needed to hear.
The film also depicts social problems such as widening gap between rich and poor, crimes and racial conflicts. In collapsed society, crimes are nothing rare and people are used to hearing about it. There is one scene in which they take about a girl who got raped and joke and goof around at the crime scene. Also, there are many scenes in which people are drinking, smoking, doing drugs and using violence. We can sense a lot of anger among the characters, and it is expressed with a constant use of cuss-words. The film also shows a familial conflict between Jimmy and Stephanie. They show love and hatred alternately, and keep a distance throughout the film.
8 Mile is great in use of music; the protagonist's thoughts and feelings are well expressed through his lyrics and the rhyme is entertaining.