Director
Dziga Vertov
Leading Actors/Actresses
The film has no actors since the only people shown through this documentary are normal citizens who remain anonymous.
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Since there are no leading actress and actors, there are no supporting characters either.
Genre
Documentary film
Language
This movie is a silent one and there are no intertitles, or written commentaries.
Awards
The film was given no awards since at the time it came out it was seen as not something worth analyzing.
Date of Release
The film was released in January 8 1929 in the Soviet Union.
Producer
Dziga Vertov
Setting and Context
The action takes place in the year 1928, when the documentary was filmed and the action takes place is various cities all across the Soviet union such as Kiev, Kharkov, Moscow and Odessa.
Narrator and Point of View
The film gives the impression that the actions are shown from the perspective of a first person subjective narrator.
Tone and Mood
The mode transmits restlessness and anxiety and this is done through the rapid way in which the narrator films his subjects.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are the normal men and women filmed going through the motions of everyday life. Because of the nature of the documentary, there are no antagonists.
Major Conflict
While the film has no major plot and as such no defined conflict, we can claim the major conflict is between the rich and the poor since the documentary shows the lives of the two social classes.
Climax
The film reaches its climax at the end of the day when the people filmed go to bed.
Foreshadowing
Among the first shots shown in the film is a homeless man waking up. This scene is used to foreshadow the later more tragic scenes showed in the film such as the instance in which a woman gives birth.
Understatement
N/A
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
The documentary is regarded nowadays as being one of the most innovative films in history. It is seen as being the first time when techniques such as superimposing, freeze frames, multiple exposure and Dutch angles were used. It is now considered as being the eight greatest film ever made and this is in part because of the innovation in camera techniques used throughout the film.
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the film is the idea that social inequality is something that can’t be fixed and that it is better if a person just learns how to ignore those things which may make them uncomfortable.
Paradox
A paradoxical idea is the way in which the documentary jumps from one tragic event to a happy or even mundane even, transmitting the idea that everything is normal and without showing any type of sympathy for those who were suffering.
Parallelism
A parallel is drawn between the rich and the poor, the purpose being showing to the viewer just how different the two classes were living.