tmoney
Posts 181
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4/27/2006 10:08 PM
posted awhile ago
Cinema Verite
I'm not exactly sure what cinema verite is. Could somebody with a little more knowlege explain it to me? From what I have heard, it is documentary style but I have seen Battle of Algiers and Grey Gardens, which are both considered verite, but don't understand why a film like Grey Gardens isn't just considered "documentary".
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paul
Posts 248
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4/28/2006 9:58 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Cinema Verite
Well, first off the category of documentary is probably more diverse than narrative. There are so many ways of executing a documentary and, subsequently, so many arguments for what qualifies as documentary.
Cinema verite (sometimes called "direct cinema") is actually an approach that attempts to address what we're talking about in the conversation about Michael Moore. Basically, cinema verite tries to bring more honesty to documentary.
The Maysles brothers (Salesman) and Frederick Wiseman (Titicut Follies) are canonical examples of this approach. In essence, the filmmaker(s) roll their camera and capture what happens with as minimal intrusion as possible. Of course, the mere presence of a camera changes the way people behave. Wiseman's solution for this when he filmed Titicut Follies in a mental hospital was to show up everyday with his camera for months until the patients and the staff grew used to his presence and started to behave as they would if he weren't there. The results are shocking. When I watched Titicut Follies, the experience changed the way I think about film. I defy anybody to watch that documentary and not be completely blown away. It's rather hard to find, though. You're best shot is to search large metropolitan or university libraries.
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paul
Posts 248
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4/28/2006 10:14 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Cinema Verite
I should also mention how cinema verite differs in its presentation, not just in the production. In the editing room, the approach is to avoid any narration or storytelling beyond the simple cutting together of captured footage. No interviews, no voice overs, often no music other than what was captured on film. Basically, outside of the decisions involved in rolling the camera and cutting the footage, the directors try to remove their "voice" as much as possible from the film.
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quint
Posts 94
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4/29/2006 1:44 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Cinema Verite
Wow Paul, you and I may be the only ones in West Michigan to have seen this. I was led to believe that Wiseman was under court injunction to only show this once a year and he had to be present at the showing. This was how the power of cinema was shut down by the courts back then. Of course, reforms were immediate in the institution. A fascinating film. I've also seen Welfare, which is perhaps a purer Cinema verite experience. 3 hours of what goes on in a welfare office. Cases coming in, the frustration of the workers, all of it raw. There is no narrative voice. There is just an eye trying not to intrude on a fascinating process. Most of Wiseman's films are like this from what I see. Different settings. They make for powerful historical documents. They can also be extremely boring if, as in Welfare, you feel a historical distance has diminished your sense of outrage. That is primarily what I feel watching his films. He is manipulating my sense of outrage in subtle ways. If the cultural distance is too great, it feels more like a very long educational filmstrip with no narrator.
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paul
Posts 248
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5/3/2006 10:13 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Cinema Verite
I saw Titticut as a bootleg (I know a guy who knows a guy). It is (thankfully) more historical document now than a present day expose. And Wiseman definitely plucks the outrage strings with the content he chooses to cut into his films. I don't think a week goes by when I don't—for some reason—recall the image of a patient trying to starve himself having a feeding tube shoved down his nose or the patient who wouldn't shave being raked by a razor, hosed down, and locked in his cell naked and wet.
I think Wiseman probes the way compassion and a simple human sense of connection break down as administrators and employees become "institutionalized." He wants us to be outraged by it because, in my opinion, bureaucracy is often an antidote to outrage. It reminds of the way my brother would do something to piss me off then sit in front of his door until I calmed down and agreed not to tell mom.
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tmoney
Posts 181
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5/5/2006 4:13 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Cinema Verite
i've been searching for this film like crazy. i can either rent it from wiseman for $400, or go to U of M and watch it in the library. But I guess it is aired on pbs once in a while.
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