Gabriel FontanaMan with a Movie CameraAt first glance, Dziga Vertov’sMan with a Movie Camerais a puzzling movie. Clockingin at a little over an hour, Vertov employs a wide array of cinematic techniques. The filmcan go from a snail’s pace to a million miles per hour, using fast and slow motion shots, freezeframes, jump cuts, split screens, and close-ups. Even more confusing is the fact is that the movieseems to have no plot; there’s no story, no actors, and no sets. Just a collection of scenes thatcome together to vaguely resemble the daily lives of Russian citizens. True to the movie’s title, itall looks like a man messing around with a movie camera. But looking deeper, there is a definitemethod to Vertov’s apparent madness. To understand, you have to examine the scenes, and lookat them through the lens of Vertov’s kino eye.Before examining a specific scene, it’s important to examine Vertov’s mindset. Vertovwas a pioneer of the “kinok” movement during 1920’s Russia. The goal of the kinoks was toabolish all non-documentary forms of filmmaking, that is to say “staged” films that employed
