Flashbacks

Another technique that Guy Ritchie frequently uses in his films is flashbacks. He uses flashbacks to develop characters, for example in RocknRolla, there is a scene where Johnny spins some guns around and sings to a song playing on his stereo in his crack den and then has a flashback to when he was a boy blasting the same song in his room and singing along when his stepfather, Lenny walks in and turns it off. When Johnny turns it back on again Lenny returns and proceeds to beat him with his belt. This explains to the audience the dysfunctional relationship that exists between them and clarifies the loathing that Johnny harbors towards Lenny. In Snatch, a flashback is used when Doug the Head is describing Bullet Tooth Tony to Avi. The flashback dramatizes the dialog, adds humor and as well as help the sudience to connect with the movie and it's characters.

Snatch - Flashback

In Snatch, at the climax, we see Brick Top hang up his phone after a gunshot is heard through it with a troubled expression on his face. At this point, the audience feels confused and tensed because we assume that the plan to wipe out the gypsies has been carried out. It's only after a flashback that we realize that his plan has actually gone very wrong because the gypsies had planned an ambush to wipe out the people who were meant to wipe them out. This use of flashback creates more tension to the situation, and at the end of it, there is a sense of relief as the audience find out that the 'good guys' prevail. In RocknRolla, there is scene that shows a battered One Two passing the stolen money to Stella. At this point, the audience feels disappointed and confused because they were not able to see the action in which he acquired the money and have no idea how it came to be that he becomes injured. However, Guy Ritchie uses a flashback at this point to show what had happened beforehand. Alternating between the flashback and the scene in the restaurant with Stella, it makes the scene at the restaurant more interesting than it might have been if it didn't have the flashback inserted into it.

Snatch - Flashback (5:45)