Man with a Movie Camera (1929) and Other Works by Dziga Vertov (Review)

Dziga Vertov is a Soviet motion-picture director, who at the age of 22 was the director of the Soviet government cinema department. It’s not surprising to find a lot of his films contain propaganda; however, after watching his films, we’d like to think this is not what he is known for. Vertov experimented with his films, in an era when film was in its infancy. Watching it now, it’s easy to take his experimental ways for granted – we see them used extensively with many mainstream films. Nevertheless, Vertov experimented with camera angles, dissolve, enlarged close-ups, split screens, cross cuttings and so many other cinematic techniques which he helped insert into film language.

It is impossible to imagine the reception Vertov’s films had nearly a century ago. Every cinematic technique is used regularly now. Think Inception, Requiem for a Dream, Matrix even 500 Days of Summer, they all use the very cinematic techniques employed by Vertov in Man With A Movie Camera, which was voted the greatest documentary ever made in a poll of filmmakers and critics by Sight and Sound. Eureka’s Masters of Cinema Series is available on the dual format Blu-Ray and DVD, and includes some of Vertov’s fascinating films; along with Man With a Movie Camera are Kino-Eye (1924), Kino-Pravda #21 (1925), Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (1931) and Three Songs About Lenin (1934). Each of these films is a showcase of Vertov’s bold experiments with film. He launches with no hesitation and you can’t help but admire his aspirations of filmmaking.

The best example of how widely Vertov’s techniques are used in the recent PETA advert; as if it had popped out of Kino-Eye except with chickens. In both Kino-Eye and PETA’s videos, there is a reversed film, travelling from market produce to an unbutchered animal(s). The messages are very different, but you can’t help noticing these things once you see Vertov’s films.

Talkies had been around for a few years by the time Vertov began working on Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass. Many filmmakers were unconvinced of the use of sound in cinema, the consensus among filmmakers was that sound was a passing fancy. Yet this didn’t faze Vertov, who embraced the talkies with enthusiasm. He showcases his ability to experiment with sound by using abstract music and then changing the tempo of the miners of the Don coal basin. In the second half, we get to hear the coal miners speak properly, praising socialism and their collective work ethic.

As previously mentioned, Vertov’s films are quite heavy in propaganda. Not to say that it is in any way off-putting, it does not affect his veracity at all. However, it is interesting to see the history, the perceptions of the “Youth Pioneers” and how people reacted to Lenin’s death in Kino-Pravda #21. The people praised Lenin as close to a deity as you could imagine, with people fainting at his wake. The effort put into the animation to give a short day by day guide of Lenin’s health in his final days is fascinating. The animation and graphics are advanced for 1925, detailing his pulse, breathing and temperature.

Three Songs About Lenin is also filled with soviet propaganda, exploring the changes Lenin made such as electricity reaching rural villages and the development of women’s rights. The opening shot of this film is quite different from the other films with it focusing on nature rather than industry or the collective. There is much more beauty to it than any of the other films, and with this, it lacks the bold experimentation that Vertov made his name with. The pace is quite slow in the second half, and though the film shows some mesmerising moments of beauty, it isn’t to the same standard as his previous works – perhaps this is why it felt easier to watch.

Having never seen any films by Dziga Vertov, it was a pleasure to watch as well as educational. Packaged with the archetypical love and affection from Masters of Cinema, these featured films are ripe for discovery and rediscovery, and ready to be explored by aspiring filmmakers and critics as a reminder of the potential that film holds.

Thanks for reading our review of Man with a Movie Camera and Other Works by Dziga Vertov

For more Movie talk, check out our podcast CINEMA ECLECTICA