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The Man with A Movie Camera

(Vertov, 1929)

Even to our eyes, used to the rapidfire pace of MTV videos, Vertov's masterpiece still startles the viewer for its dynamism. The film never stops moving, constantly forcing the viewer's eyes to try and keep pace. The film also perpetually engages the viewer in a dialogue over the power and meaning of its images, reminding us repeatedly that we are watching a movie.. As the Feldman article in your coursepak does such a wonderful job of interpreting the film and setting it in its cultural and ideological context, I will just pose a few questions for you to mull over:

• think about the formal aspects of the film and what their impact is. This film uses an astounding number of different special effects, from superimposing images to split screen to stills, slow motion, and fast motion. How do these effects work to put into action the concept of kino-glaz?
• what do we learn about life in the USSR circa 1929 from this film?
• how does the absence of dialogue or intertitles (except in the very beginning) affect the viewer's experience of the film and its meaning?
• how does the film understand and interpret the relationship between man and machine? Think of an illustrative sequence.
• how does the film's emphasis on capturing mundane events of everyday life mesh with Bolshevism and the ideals of the Revolution?
• is this documentary telling a story? it did not have a scenario, but does Vertov abandon narrative entirely?

FYI, for an article that analyzes the confluence of Vertov and Busby Berkeley, click here

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