"Man With a Movie Camera" 'Nuff Said

Never have I seen a film that could chronologically portray the daily routine of a Soviet citizen in such a brilliantly captivating while simultaneously mind numbing way. From the minute the first reel came upon the screen and the invisible audience members took their seats then rose from their seats, and then sat down once again, I was entranced and curious as to what exactly the hell I was actually watching. In retrospect looking back I always did wonder what it would be like to watch a movie that had the simple and strait forward plot of following the daily routine of an individual. In "man with a Movie Camera" we are invited to observe what the daily norm is for a Soviet worker in early 20th century Russia. When I'm watching a movie I have to admit that besides a solid story the most thrilling movies have dynamic and well thought out shots. When I'm watching a film and I see a scene that the director just seems to nail and capture the essence of the film, I stop, take a moment, pick my jaw up off the ground, and admire the wonder before me. If a movie can do that for me and tell a fascinating and thought provoking story I am quick to join the bandwagon and quickly run to my local Wal-Mart so I can add it to my collection. Of course when I was watching "Man with a Movie Camera" it appeared to lack any discernable plot or dynamic group of characters. I was quickly assuaged though by this lack of content in the movie by the broad sweeping and amazingly modern shots Dziga Vertov was able to capture. Then upon my second run-through it dawned on me that there was indeed a plot and an ensemble cast, albeit in the most rudimentary form conceivable, but a plot and cast none the less. Watching more intently and yearning for some sort of narrative that could explain to me what the hell was actually going on I realized that the plot was simply a day in the life of Soviet citizens and maybe it’s because I never lived in the years of the "Red Scare" or the era of the Cold War or whatever you want to call it, but watching these people simply enjoy their lives touched on a human element that I have never seen in another film. My immediate first impression after I realized what I was actually watching was, "really? This is what brought the industrial world to the brink of nuclear holocaust? Common workers, who head to the bar to drink beer that directors seem to rise up out of and bare breasted women frolicking on the beach? What a joke." Then I began to notice that aside from the citizens themselves and the obvious presence of the director, there was a hidden and more dynamic character at the heart of this avant-guard documentary that was more critical and pertinent to the cohesiveness of the film; the camera itself. I realized that this whole experiment was entirely contingent on the scenes the camera captured and at certain points the camera itself was shown to have its own life. Without this pivotal character there would be no film for the images of culture and daily work for a modernizing Soviet Union requires a "Man with a Movie Camera" nothing more and certainly nothing less.