Film Review: Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

A hundred years ago “radical” meant quite different things for film makers than it means today. Even with such caveat, the title of the most radical film maker in history should belong to Dziga Vertov. His writings endorsed the concept of “Cine-Eye”, futuristic blending of human with a machine, in his case a film camera, that would allow new stage of evolution. Vertov was fortunate to work in 1920s Soviet Union, which was at the time quite fertile ground for all kinds of radical experiments, especially those that broke away with all forms of traditions. His ideas were ultimately brought to the screen in Man With a Movie Camera, 1929 silent documentary film which is today considered one of the most important pieces of experimental cinema in history.

Vertov makes his intentions and concepts clear in the opening titles that explain that his film wouldn’t be burdened with things like acting, script or even intertitles. The only narrative framing device is arrival of audience to the theatre where the film, accompanied with orchestra, would be shown. Its content represents a day of life in large Soviet city, seen from the perspective of camera and its operator (Vertov’s brother Mikhail Kaufman), who occasionally appears carrying or setting up his device. Vertov attempts to capture life in its totality and complexities, which involves scenes of births, funerals, couples obtaining marriage licenses and divorces, men digging coal, people drinking beer, playing sports or enjoying day at the beach. Much of the scenes involve movements that involve horses, horse-drawn carriages, railway and some of the more modern forms of transportations like motor cars, motorcycles and planes. Vertov, who was, like many film makers of his generation, enthusiastic supporter of Soviet regime, despite all of his stated intentions to discard “theatricality” and “artificiality”, conveys message of new society being dynamic and vibrant and many people might see it as propaganda. Whether that was Vertov’s conscious aim or not could be debated, but the film also involves parts that could be seen as “eye candy” or “fan service” by certain more critical viewers today, involving naked or scantily clad women.

Those details, however, didn’t catch much of the attention of contemporary critics. Vertov’s film, which discarded narration, looked like fascinating but ultimately baffling collection of images held together with myriad of avant-garde film making techniques like rapid editing, fast motion, slow motion, jump cuts, split screens, tracking shots, multiple exposure and unusual shooting angles. Vertov’s idea to capture real life in its totality, was therefore, executed in the idea that made such reality look surreal. Couple of “meta” scenes, in which Vertov’s wife and editor Yelizaveta Svilova turns still photographs into moving images, only enhances such effect. For today’s audience, at least those that grew up on MTV videos, all that would be something quite familiar, but for audience in 1920s Man With a Movie Camera looked revolutionary.

Vertov’s film didn’t make much of an impact in Soviet Union after its premiere. Country under Stalin’s leadership was steering towards Socialist Realist dogmas and the enthusiasm for radical experimentation was rapidly waning. Most of the audience that saw Man With a Movie Camera was baffled, while Vertov didn’t help his case with Party establishment by his public feud with better known and respected film makers like Sergei Eisenstein. Lack of success at home was, however, more than compensated with success abroad. Many film enthusiasts, especially those with leftist political leanings or avant-garde aesthetic sentiments, greeted Man With a Movie Camera as a revolutionary masterpiece. As such, Vertov’s film had enormous influence on world cinema in decades to come, with French New Wave and Cinéma Vérité movements being best known examples. Man With a Movie Camera still holds respectable positions in critics’ polls of best films ever made, but for most of today’s audience its value is more in giving fascinating slice life in a strange place a century ago, when future looked very different than it looks today.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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