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Mythos Community Library - Isle of Erato. All articles displayed in Non-Fiction are copyrighted by the author.

Film History part III

written by J.A.Bohr

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The film version intact today contains four Acts (although it seems that five acts should exist due to common theater structural practices at this time and the fact that Act Four seems too long in comparison of time and grasp of "illuded time" that occurs in the film) and runs roughly through six daily occurences; 1) early morning - Berlin wakes as the industries begin, 2) morning - Consumers awake, children head for school, and stores begin to sell, 3) lunchtime - Street commerce begins as the city eats, 4) afternoon - as the city finishes its day of work, but loosing some of its masses to the madness of the chaos it creates, 5) evening - as the workers cease, children leave school, and a city relaxes and/or exercises itself, 6) nighttime - as the city entertains itself. Throughout the film transportation runs in and out of the city like great arteries, with the people being the blood and life of Berlin. Machines are shown powerfully throughout the film in patterns that imitate the angles and shadows of the city with people show through mass and shadows giving an odd impression of equality between machine and man. But this unanimity that these citizens share comes with a cost, that this city has sacrifices as we are shown an implied suicide jump into the river.

To build the pressures and "breaths" of this monstrous city, Ruttmann explores an idea from the filmmaker Vertov, using fundamentals of music composition to create emotional expression., "The opening movement of this "symphony," the train approaching the sleeping city is allegro moderato - rhythmic, pulsating, alive with expectation, but a bit cautious, sleepy, hesitant. The next sequence, of the sleeping city's waking, is a largo - slow, quiet, peaceful. As the city wakes and goes to work, the tempo changes to allegro vivace - vibrant, alive, active. There is an andante at the lunch hour when work stopes, another allegro when it begins again, and another andante in the quiet, grear-changing hours of the evening between work and play. The film ends with a presto finale, a fast, frenzied sequence of neon lights, night life, dancing, music, movies."17 Berlin is truly not the type of film words can justify. But Ruttmann is not only concerned with the rhythm of the film, but with the composition of shapes and forms of Berlin and the manner in which they moved. "At an given time the organizing principle may be kinetic (things going up, thing coming down, things opening, things closing) or shapes that look alike (people walking in a crowd, a herd of cattle moving, soldiers marching)."18

Unlike the long barren tundra shots and slow paced pans and action of Nanook, Berlin is dramatic to view but faces a contradiction like its predecessor, not everything seen on the screen is an actuality. "Some of the action is staged: a group of merrymakers in the early morning returning from a party; an argument between two men with a crowd gathering; a woman jumping from a bridge to drown, apparently."19 But the majority of the footage was not staged. And although many who viewed this film found it cold and unemotional, "(w)hat it offers is a visual description composed according to artistic insights and intuitions and the requirements of form. As a result of this film we can know a great deal about the appearance of life in Berlin in 1927."20

As Mast and Kawain write, "From Nanook on, documentary has been defined as a nonfiction film that organizes factual materials in order to make a point - as distinguished from the actualite, which simply records an event."21 This seems rather far from the definition a dictionary may lead us to believe (unless we look up "purport"), but it becomes easier to understand when realizing how far Berlin can take your mind. The places we feel we've been outweighs the significance of the few staged scenes if our purpose is to "feel". But when we cross this line into ideology we loose the power of the Actuality. Therefore as a record of the past, documentaries have a long way to go if they are to become learning aids to the future instead of entertainment for the now.


Footnotes


1. Stuart Berg Flexner, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd ed.

2. Stuart Berg Flexner, p. 1570.

3. Bruce F. Kawin and Gerald Mast, A Short History of the Movies, 6th ed.

4. Bruce F. Kawin and Gerald Mast, p. 132.

5. Bruce F. Kawin and Gerald Mast, p. 132.

6. Jack C. Ellis, The Documentary Idea. 1st ed.

7. Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, Flaherty, 1989.

8. Robert Flaherty, Nanook of the North, (film) 1922.

9. Jack C. Ellis, p. 19.

10. Jack C. Ellis, p. 22.

11. Moses Nowkawalk, Search for Nanook, 1996.

12. Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute.

13. Bruce F Kawin and Gerald Mast, p. 168.

14. Jack C. Ellis, p. 51.

15. Dr. Bill, Walther Ruttmann (1898-1941), 1988.

16. Dr. Bill.

17. Bruce F Kawin and Gerald Mast, p. 168-169.

18. Jack C. Ellis, p. 52.

19. Jack C. Ellis, p. 52.

20. Jack C. Ellis, p. 54.

21. Bruce F Kawin and Gerald Mast, p. 133.


Bibliography


Akadinne Press Inc., Nanook of the North. 1996-1998.

Dr. Bill, Walther Ruttmann (1898-1941), 1988.

Bordwell and Thompson, Film Art,

Jack C. Ellis, The Documentary Idea. 1st ed.

Stuart Berg Flexner, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd ed.

Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, Flaherty, 1989.

Bruce F. Kawin and Gerald Mast, A Short History of the Movies, 6th ed.

Moses Nowkawalk, Search for Nanook, 1996.

The Life of Flaherty.

Video Flicks, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, 1998.


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