In the movie "American Beauty" the sound explains the movie more than words. Sound speaks what the characters cannot. In the scene where Rickey is showing Jane is the showing her the video he took of the plastic back blowing in the wind, there is soft piano music playing the entire time symbolizing anger and freedom. The plastic bag is Lester trying to break free of his fake life he lives, but also feels compelled to stay at the same time to try and makes things right in the end, he just doesn't know it yet.
Another example of great sound work in the movie is spoken narrative. Lester was narrating all the way up to his death and then the movie ended with him talking about death. During the most intense parts there would Lester talking about something that didn't make sense to the viewers, but in the end after he had died, there was beauty and sadness about what he said earlier in the movie. In "American Beauty " the sound strengthened the movie, which made it more powerful than words would have.
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