Man with a Movie Camera

Starring: Mikhail Kaufman
Directed by: Dziga Vertov
Rating: Not Rated
Genre: Documentary
1929

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man travels throughout a city and captures many different aspects of life with his movie camera.

Review:

Tim: When I sat down to watch Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera, I admit I brought some skepticism to the proceedings. This 68 minute, Soviet era documentary often shows up on lists of the greatest films of all time. I admit I wondered if this was due to critics picking a movie they were "supposed" to like, verses one that's actually great. After watching this spellbinding film, I admit my initial conception of the film was wrong. This is a dizzying, beautiful film that manages to capture so much of life in Russia in the late 1920s, while also proving wildly innovative in the realm of cinema. In this case, I think the critics got it right- Man with a Movie Camera is a landmark film and it's truly great.

The film does seem to cast a spell over the audience. This silent film features no dialogue. There's no actors. No narrative. That sounds awful. And yet, Vertov weaves together so much footage in such an energetic way that my attention was held throughout. He has this way of presenting what the camera saw in a way that feels gleeful. You can almost hear the film exclaim, "Look! Look! Look at what life looks like on the planet Earth. This is what it means to be alive in the 1920s. We live in a marvelous time of unbound innovation. Moving pictures exist and are able to capture all this life for you to see." That's what the movie says to me, anyway. There's a certain eye for details that Vertov brings- it's almost like he is determined to capture every aspect of life imaginable for the film. There's happiness, sadness, nature, civilization, transportation, life, death, work, play, and a hundred other human themes. Vertov brings all of this to us quickly, darting from scene-to-scene, almost as if to say, "We must hurry! Humankind has so much to look at and see!"

There is something powerful about this film that has increased in the passage of time since its release. I read that it wasn't received well initially- this is absolutely an experimental film and it would have been challenging for viewers in its day. I read this fascinating thing that Vertov edited 1,775 separate shots- they come at us far quicker than any other film of that day. It can be overpowering, but it leads to this feeling of frenetic pace. The movie is moving, leaping from scene to scene. For me, it was powerful to see so much of Soviet life captured from over 95 years ago. It's a safe bet that everyone you see in the film is now dead. Most of what is captured by the camera's eye no longer exists, or has changed so much as to be unrecognizable. The movie does an excellent job of capturing the permanence of these people and objects with the deeper reminder of their immense impermanence. The movie is spellbinding, to see so much in such a short amount of time.

The other incredible aspect of this film is how many innovations Vertov made. I never went to film school (obviously), so much of the technical language escapes me. I had to pull from Wikipedia to understand the cinematic techniques he either invented or expanded upon, which include multiple exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, match cuts, jump cuts, split screens, Dutch angles, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, reversed footage, stop motion animations and self-reflexive visuals. For viewers of the day, this movie would have appeared unlike anything they'd ever seen before. For viewers today, it's still a wonderful experience, to see all the different techniques being used. I didn't know all their names, but I experienced great mirth seeing the many different ways the subjects are presented here.

The other thing I loved about this film involved the scenes with the cameraman. Multiple times throughout the film, we see the cameramna (Vertov's brother) filming the same scenes. It's this beautiful view not just through the lens, but behind the lens- a reminder that what we're watching isn't life- but life captured by this amazing motion picture innovation. Those scenes were fascinating also because they showed the extent to which the filmmakers went to capture these scenes. The scene of him standing on the car while it's driving sticks in my mind. I loved that aspect of the film.

Quick side note as a reminder for myself- while I was watching this movie, my 9 year-old ventured downstairs into the room. I'd watched about 30+ minutes or so of the film and there wasn't anything worrisome, so I let him watch with me. He'll do that on occasion- watch old movies with me. I love those moments, because he's being exposed to something most children today will have no concept of and even less interest. Maybe I have a hope that it'll spark an interest in historical cinema in him, I don't know. Anyway, he's downstairs for a few minutes and asking questions about what's on screen. There's a funeral- it was a little unsettling to see a real dead body, but I figured it was fine for him. Then, there's a woman tossing and turning in a bed, sweating. He asked what was happening. "Uh, I think she's sick?" I ventured a guess while we watched. "No, I think she's pregnant," he replied. And then, cut to a full view of this woman with her newborn baby hanging out of her body by the umbilical cord (the doctors are holding baby). It's fine, but I cursed inwardly- in this entire film, that's the most graphic scene (there is some nudity later on, too) and of course, he was there to watch it. Hopefully it didn't form a core memory- I'll let you know in a few decades.

That humorous episode aside, I loved Man with a Movie Camera. I believe it was the perfect film at the time to innovate in massive ways while capturing the beautiful, mundane aspects of human life. It connects us to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and it remains one of the great Russian films today. It's a powerful, influential, stunning film and I concur completely that it's a truly great motion picture.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alexander Nevsky, Mirror