Man with a Camera Film Analysis - Movie Review Example

? Film Report Themes in Man with a Movie Camera Passion and Experience Vertov as the main actor exhibits high level of passion anddetermination to shoot the film. For example, he spends more than six years shooting the film. This shows a high level of passion and determination. Vertov is also determined to show how man controls and maintain the machine while showing how a machine resembles man. Vertov depicts his passion by waking up early and working hard to capture various scenes. This includes scenes like a woman going to sleep, waking up from bed and giving birth. Vertov also demonstrates a high level of determination and experience by capturing various images and scenes. He is able to capture slow moving images that increases in speed as the day moves on. Vertov also demonstrates a high level of passion when he walks on high bridges, climb a smokestack and crawls underground with miners. He also hangs on side of trains in order to get good shots (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Progress There is a theme of progress and development in the film. For example, Vertov tries to demonstrate two sides of life in his film. He shows beginnings and endings of various people. For example, he shows images of marriage and divorce, life and death, young and old, a woman going to bed and waking up the next day and work as well as recreation. By showing these stages, he demonstrates how life progresses from one stage to another. To show how people progresses from work to leisure, Vertov captures images of people in games, sports, pubs and beaches. The actor also shows how the society is moving away from traditional tool to more modern and advanced technology. Images showing people travelling in trains and workers using machines in factories is a clear demonstration of a progressing society (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Politics Vertov tries to bring out the theme of politics by showing a Proletariat society under the leadership of Lenin. However, several people were not workers. They are peasant farmers who could not afford wealth yet they were the main source of wealth. Vertov shows a socialist society where people live together as a community. He shows masses of people partaking and enjoying in same actions such as traveling, working and recreation. The demonstration of repetitious pictures of machines and lower social class of individuals is a clear indication of how people should live and operate like a machine. Each individual should carry out his or her duty in building the nation just like different parts of a machine work together for the machine to function properly. The actor also elevates the states of women. He does this by demonstrating how women and men work alongside each other regardless of their gender (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Influence on Modern Comedy from Bringing up Baby Bringing up Baby is the pioneer of screwball comedies. These comedies are usually in white and black. In such comedies, a repressed, upright or a stiff character is broken out of their shell by being sort after romantically by a similar type character. The comedy is usually characterized by escapist themes, farcical situations, fast-paced repartee and plot lines that include love, courtship and marriage. There is also economic struggle between different classes. Apart from these, they are usually very funny, ballsy and screwy (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Bringing up Baby was produced in 1938 and directed by Howard Hawkins. Starring includes a leopard, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Just like screwball Comedy, Bringing up Baby has a marriage plot in that Grant is planning to marry and is only missing intercostals clavicle. The night before he marry, he is supposed to force a lawyer donate some money to the museum. On his way to meet the lawyer, he meets Hepburn. Hepburn accidentally steals his car and golf, preventing him from going to the meeting (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Another influence that the movie has had on current comedy is use of females as main characters. Hepburn plays a dominant role in driving the theme of love and marriage. Such women are extra crazy and can do anything to get what they want. Apart from this, they are compassionate and kind hearted. Another influence the movie has had on current comedies is an element of mismatch. For example, Grant wants to marry Hepburn but he lacks the economic resources compared to Hepburn. Apart from this, Grant is a conventional paleontologist who assembles and studies brontosaurus skeleton. In contrast, Katharine Hepburn is a complete opposite of Grant. She is a wanton and frivolous woman who encounters her future husband by chance. Hepburn takes it upon herself to make Grant love her. However, she has a wired way of loving Grant. She demonstrates her love for Grant by hurting and annoying him. She does all these to keep Grant around her. Another influence Bringing up Baby has on modern comedies is the element of talking fast and in a witty manner. Hepburn among other character in the film talk in a quick and witty manner (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Bringing up Baby also introduced the concept of couple taking care of pets. Hepburn and Grant have to take care of a leopard throughout the movie. There are also long sequences in which Susan and David have to follow George the dog in order to find out where he buried the dinosaur bone he stole. There is also a funny instance in which David and Susan have to capture an escaped leopard using a fish net and mallet (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Poverty in Bicycle thieves The film tries to illustrate how poverty has taken root in Italy and more so in Antonio’s family. This is depicted when Antonio is caught trying to still a bicycle to replace his. He is arrested by the public and beaten before his son. The rate of unemployment is very high in Italy after World War II. The main actor Antonio Ricci has been jobless for over two years. He soon gets a job as a poster man. However, for him to do this job, he needs to have a bicycle. Unfortunately, his only bicycle is stolen on a first day at work. His friend offers to help him search it the next day in the neighborhood where stolen bicycles are sold. The search is unsuccessful but Antonio and his son Bruno do not give up the search. They go to a market at Porta Portese where they manage to see the thief. However, he does not manage to catch the thief for lack of evidence. They soon follow the thief to his residential place but they do not find the bicycle. Driven into despair, Antonio tries to steal a bicycle but he does not manage it (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Class and economic needs drive Antonio. Though the movie does not contrast his poverty with the wealthiest millionaires of his time, the film equates a millionaire to anyone who can afford a plate of spaghetti. Antonio’s poverty manages to bring out the horrors of World War II and the economic effects it had on survivors. The shot, in which Antonio carries his son on a bicycle to search for a job in the rich neighborhood, is an example of a man who loves his family and wants to provide for it. However, the society does not allow him to be the man he is (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). The film The Bicycle Thief is set in an Neorealism setting. This is a motion picture of a working class life, plotted in a culture of poverty. Such scenes tend to depict that a good society should distribute its wealth equally. Antonio is seen as a hard working man full of hope. The setting of the film is so effective. This is because it is set in Italy which was hit by effects of World War II. By this the film uses the real characters that were traumatized by the war. Antonio brings out the theme of poverty by his daily activities. He is a poor man who is thrilled when he is offered a job. To get his bicycle, his wife Maria had to pawn their bed sheets in order to manage the bicycle. As father and son move around in the streets, they uncover scenes of poverty similar to theirs. The climax of poverty is depicted when Antonio tries to steal a bicycle in order to get his job back (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Influences on and ideals of the French New Wave Filmmakers During 1950’s, young directors in France come up with a new movement called French New Wave which was pressurized by the Italian Neorealist. The directors used the films as a channel to express their feeling, thinking and criticize the French government. Since then, French New Wave has become a mainstream film movement until now. The pioneers of the movement are Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Claude Chabrol among others. During this time, movies were shot at a location rather than the studios to cut down on costs, grab the attention of the viewers and bring out the realism of the films (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). The directors also used advanced technology such as 35 mm camera. The camera enabled the directors to come up with good scenes and made shooting easier. Films like The French Connection, La Bande des quatre and Un etrange voyage borrowed so much from French New Wave. The movies used handheld camera work and their scenes were shot from the localities. This enabled the movie to be lively and hold the audience attention. The directors created more mystery leaving a buzzing effect that has never been felt before. The films also have strange level of cinematic truth even if the scenes being shot are untruth. The plots seem to roam in all directions while multiple events are going simultaneously (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). The French New Wave influenced other New Waves. They include Hong Kong New Wave and Japan New Wave. It is evident that the French New Wave influences are still being felt up to now. The French new wave proved that it is not necessary for directors to have money, big lights, and experienced actors or flourished technique for the films to be effective or receive a wide viewing. It was a concept that introduced new blood in modern films (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). References Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2010). Film Art. (9th Ed) McGraw-Hill, NY Read More