The mind works in twists and turns.

For a while now I have wanted to start a blog and so after several failed attempts I believe I have finally settled on a subject which I can talk about  without boring myself or you, reader. That subject is: Film. All films, well any that I can get my student hands on.  It seems like the perfect time to start a film blog as the recent 84^th Academy Awards highlighted the importance of the beginning of the film industry:  with a reminder of the brilliance of the silent film in “The Artist” (2011) and Martin Scorsese’s reference to good old George Méliès in “Hugo” (2011); with each film scooping up five Oscar’s. 

Referring to myself as a film student often gets a few sneers and usually “doesn’t that mean you just watch a shit load of films?” Well, naturally. To be able to talk about film I obviously need to watch them. But if anyone thinks that I sat through four hours of D.W Griffiths' silent film “Birth of a Nation” (1915) for my own pleasure, one would be mistaken. I do love silent film but not for four hours and not with such an obnoxious storyline. I watched it as it is a treasured piece of cinema and there is no doubt in any cinema-lovers mind how influential Griffiths was for cinema progression; the film is not a classic for  its representation of history (dear God, no) but for Griffith’s pioneering use of the modern camera and one of the first directors to introduce the use of the narrative to the cinema. 

Moving on, four years down the line and currently in the middle of writing my dissertation on Italian cinema of the 1970’s, I find myself analysing in detail and annoyingly criticising every film I watch. I’ve become a frequent viewer of old movies telling anyone who will listen about my obsession with Cary Grant (well, he is a beaut). Needless to say a typical day for me consists of watching, at least, one film. I watch films in no particular order skipping from 1930s Britain, to 1960s Italy, back to 1950s America and coming back into the present. My blog entries will be in no particular order, and I begin on a debated form of cinema, the documentary.  Documentaries have a very on/off, love/ hate relationship with modern society. The first pieces of film to grace the silver screen can be considered to be documentaries as the main aim was to film everyday occurrences, for example some of the first films of the Lumiere brothers like "L'Arrivée d'un Train a la Ciotatfrom" in 1985. Nowadays there are so many types all with the same general aims to educate, highlight, inform, and shock spectators who want to discover more about the society they live in or how society was. 

“WWII: Nuremberg Trials” or “Sud narodov” (1947) is a Soviet Russian documentary about the notorious Nazi war trials post- WWII and the criminals being brought to justice, with archive footage of  Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Josef Goebbels and Hermann Göring among others. It was directed by Roman Karmen and Yelizaveta Svilova. The film contains disturbing footage of the aftermath of the holocaust as well as the result of the trials. Having a strange fascination with this period of history it is interesting to be able to view this era and it is just as important to preserve this footage so one doesn’t forget. Film footage, like this, can be more shocking than history books as the audience is forced to see images of reality in all its brutality. In addition this film is also a Soviet propaganda piece with the narrator informing the public about the great Soviets victory over the ‘evil Germans'. Like most documentary films, it has to be viewed with a perspective of when it was released and the attitude of society it was being distributed to. Thus, it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. A look at the trials from another side, the American public, can be seen in "The Nuremberg Trials documentary" (1950) from the film archive.

I realise this isn't the lightest of subjects to begin my blog, and as Mr Fawlty would say: "don't mention the war" but, for me, these documentaries illustrate the importance of film in today's society in reflecting the past and serving as a beginning to the first of many more posts to come.