A classic

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it was on the ‘1001 movies you must see before you die’ list, I thought I should give it a try. First of all, I must admit it, after 5 minutes, I stopped the whole thing and put some of my own music. I don’t know, the prospect of watching an hour long feature without any dialogs, music, or any sound of any kind was a rather daunting prospect. Maybe it was a mistake from my side but I was rather glad with my music selection. Basically, this movie is quite unique. It is more than 80 years old, and it is not some fiction but not a documentary either. Basically, it is something quite different. It seemed to be some kind of experiment to see how far you could go with a camera and those guys invented or developed many movie techniques in the process such as double exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, footage played backwards, stop motion animation,… From an historical point of view, this movie is an amazing treasure. I mean, if you have any interest in movie as an Art form, it is a must see. However, I must confess, the whole thing was not really entertaining to watch. Indeed, it is basically a collection of random footage and the one scene has barely anything to do with another and even though there were some awesome shots, it was sometimes pretty tedious to watch. Still, it is a classic, a very interesting watch, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10