Man With the Movie Camera

In the opening credits of The Man With the Movie Camera it was humorous for me to see the words across the screen stating "A film without a scenario." Since I had not read the book upon viewing the movie I knew that this production was one of the first documentary films automatically after reading this. Knowing that it was a documentary, I immediatly tried to detect the message of the film. This was very hard for me to accomplish with all the flashes of scenes and fast imagery in a world I am not accustomed to. However, when the camera flashed back to the audience I was able to understand that there was a profound meaning in the images and political statement being made which I was not able to grasp. I am happy however, that I was not aware of Vertov's message since this enabled me to focus more on the visual beauty which was on screen as well as the musical score presented. I normally do not get this opportunity when watching many films since I am so captured by the plot and characters. Watching The Man With The Movie Camera before reading the text, gave me an appreciation for the art of the film which I am confident I would not have noticed had I known the context and message of the film.