Moonlight

Early on in the movie, when we are witnessing the early life of Chiron, it takes us to a moment where Juan is at the beach with him. Before this scene, Chiron had always seemed to be a quiet kid and never really felt like he belonged. In this scene where Juan tells him to join him in the ocean, we can tell that Chiron is unsure of this suggestion. We can see that he is struggling to decide whether to go or not based on the camera angle and his facial expressions. Eventually, Chiron decides to join Juan and he teaches him how to float in the water on his back. Chiron seemed to not trust Juan in this moment, but Juan reassures him plenty of times that he wasn’t going to let him go. Eventually Chiron learns how to swim and, in the background, we can hear Juan's words of encouragement and excitement for Chiron. This scene portrays a lot of feelings in it. We can see that Chiron feels free and that he is learning how to trust. Us as viewers can feel the emotions that Chiron is feeling in this moment of learning how to trust and how to feel freedom for once in his life. When they are done playing in the ocean Juan gives Chiron a valuable life lesson. He says, “At some point you gotta decide for yourself who you gon’ be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.” When he says this, we can see that Chiron is thinking deeply about what he had just heard. This whole scene in the movie is very grasping towards the audience as it shows struggles Chiron has with trust and how Juan's words really open up Chiron’s mind.