Man With A Movie Camera – The Mother Of All Cinematic Experiments!
Year of Release : 1929 (12th May 1929) Duration : 68 Minutes (1 hours 8 minutes)
Genre: Silent, Documentary Colour: Black and White
In 1929, when the art of movie making was in its primal stages, a daring Russian filmmaker, Dziga Vertov, created this word-less wonder. Sprinkled with several freshly invented techniques of movie making, this experimental film captivated the audience. This art movie also influenced numerous filmmakers and emerged as the prototype for similar-styled documentaries like Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka. Widely publicized as ‘an excerpt from the diary of a cameraman,’ this movie shows the lives of ordinary folk in a single day in different cities. For this purpose, it was shot in key Russian cities like Moscow, Kiev and Odessa.
As the film opens, we follow a cameraman who tries to capture the visuals of every possible permutation and combination in the busy city. Homeless people, walking men and women, hospitals, parks, public places and bazaars – the probing cameraman captures everything. Newborn babies, a just married couple, a couple filing for divorce and a dead man – you can witness the prominent events of life, from birth to death. Vehicles of all kind—ancient horse-carts to modern day trams—symbolically show the technological advancement of human beings. Coalmines, factories, construction sites and steel mills are expertly shot to illustrate the contribution of the working class people in the nation building process. A gigantic dam and an enormous ship highlight the true potential of the masses as well as the thinking class people. Athletes, swimmers and beachside shots of holidaying people reveal the nature of modern city-bred folks. At the end, we observe, through this cameraman’s eye, a kaleidoscopic view of the city constantly on the move towards the path of development.
This movie was shot with freeze frames, slow motion, fast motion, reverse motion, unusual camera angles, superimposed trick shots and split screens.
This film was the team effort of a single family – Dziga Vertov, the director, his cameraman brother Mikhail Kaufman and his editor wife, Yelizaveta Svilova.
To get footage using a hidden camera, Vertov and Mikhail had to distract the subject with something even louder than the camera filming them!
Artistically brilliant, creatively amusing, thrilling and invigorating - this ‘silent’ experiment remains an unrivalled masterpiece.
2014 Restoration Trailer of Man with a Movie Camera (1929 Movie)
Written by
Srini