Documentary Filmmaking: An Art Form with Finesse, Portraying Montages of Real Lives

In feature films director is God; in documentary films, God is the director.

Alfred Hitchcock’s famous quote about the wonders of the art form of documentary filmmaking still holds true today. What are the salient features of documentaries that have made this genre so endearing and palpable to film lovers?  It is the romancing with the camera, the surrealism of real life, and its inherent activism portrayed in montages that have defined the genre. 

Extreme naturalism is the key, according to the exponents of this art form. It is awe-inspiring to see how award-winning documentaries like the Oscar-winning Shoah (1985), Night and Fog (a Holocaust documentary, 1955), Don’t Look Back (the 1967 tribute to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan) have been instrumental in transcending the mundane vision of human existence, venturing beyond the archetypal perceptions of human life. Many of these remarkable films have also taught us how to unravel the psychedelic mysteries of life, always giving “voice to the voiceless”.

Documentary film making

Documentary Filmmaking: History and Evolution

The art of documentary filmmaking traces its roots to pre-1900s when the French coined the term to depict non-fictional film with an informational purpose. Often referred to as ‘actuality films’, these would include very short stretches of filming, often being a minute or less in length. There was no startling depiction of human consciousness in these creations, primarily due to the technological limitations of the days. Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar, the one who in 1899 shot a wrestling match was probably the earliest traces of ‘topical’ films in the Indian film industry. He also created the first Indian newsreel in 1901, filming the public reception of Raghjunath P. Paranjpye who had won a special distinction in mathematics at Cambridge. Chitrapat Kaysa Taya Kartat (How films are made, 1917) directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, the ‘Father of Indian fiction film’, is yet another significant milestone in the genre of Indian ‘actuality’ films, the term used in those times.

In the international arena, the Czech filmmaker and theoretician Vit Janecek was one of the first few individuals who improvised the term ‘documentary filmmaking’ to replace the more ubiquitous term, ‘documental film’, to dramatize the camera shot on the spot, depicting expansive socio-cultural themes. 

The first few such attempts were by the Lumiere Brothers which showed short clippings of a train entering a station, factory workers leaving a plant, etc. Romanticism found its way into the first official documentary film, Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North (1922), portraying the lives of Canadian Inuit Eskimos living in the Arctic. 

However, the term ‘documentary’ was first used in a review of Flaherty’s (also referred to as the ‘Father of the Documentary Film’) Moana in 1926. As the years passed, the availability of cheaper 16mm film stock and the rising political movements in Russia and UK made documentary films more reachable to the masses. Films were projected on to factory walls and screens set up in church halls to raise awareness about burning issues, like unemployment, poverty and fascism. Thus, the audience has witnessed the birth of ‘alternative newsreels’ in the 1930s, as a generation of left-wing filmmakers were motivated to guide the people from apathy to activism. 

Dziga Vertov’s Kino-Pravda (literally translated as ‘film truth’) newsreel series depicted the everyday lives of bourgeois, trying to send a deeper message through a metaphorical montage of real-life recordings – often even using hidden cameras. This creation inspired the birth of cinema verité, another classic form of documentary, which utilized Vertov’s technique of juxtaposing scenes and non-intrusive filming techniques. This form of documentary film stressed on retaining the pristine form and authenticity of naturalism. John Grierson was the first documentary filmmaker and critic who coined the term ‘documentary’ while writing a review for Flaherty’s Moana. He also extended the idea portrayed by Vertov, defining the art form as a “creative treatment of actuality”. 

In India, this decade also saw the birth of documentaries in the creative acumen of Dr. P.V. Pathy, K.S. Hirlekar and D.G. Tendulkar.

Later into the 1930s and 1940s, documentary films became more propagandistic and activist in nature, focusing on the marginalized and labouring majority of the Years of Depression and War Years. For example, Triumph of the Will (1934), a masterpiece by Leni Riefenstahl, was controversial and propagandistic in its horrifying depiction of the Nazi Congress rally in Nuremberg. However, in the realm of cinematography, this film has earned laurels beyond par from critiques. 

In the year 1940, a significant milestone in Indian Documentary film making happened, as the British Government created the Film Advisory Board (FAB) to provide the infrastructure to boost the war propaganda effort. Again, in 1943, the Information Films of India (IFI) and the Indian News Parade (INP) were formed to expand and consolidate film production and distribution units. Between 1940 and 1946, the FAB and the IFI produced more than 170 films, apart from the INP newsreels. But in 1946, government grants to these institutions were drastically reduced and there was no official film unit to record Nehru’s famous ‘tryst with destiny’ speech on the auspicious Indian Independence Day. The efforts were revived in 1948, through the formation of Films Division, the official vehicle of the Government of India to promote production and distribution of information films and newsreels. 

The 1960s and 70s perceived a theme of protest against neocolonialism. La Hora de los homos (1968), The Hour of the Furnaces, directed by Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanos, is a four-hour long manifesto inciting a sense of revolution against imperialism and the disasters it brought in Argentina. In addition to the portrayal of social and political issues, biographical, rock concert/music-related documentaries were also finding their way into the mainstream during these years. Among them, a shining example was Don’t Look Back (1967), which sensitively captured the life of Bob Dylan and his inner life, consistently scrutinized by his voyeuristic ‘fans’, which effectively captured the celebrity-culture and what is terribly wrong with it, still today. 

The New Age of Documentaries:

In modern documentary filmmaking, starting from the 90’s to today’s era of online film streaming, filmic stylization and informational reportage in documentary films have reached newer levels of success with the advent of hi-tech digital photographic equipment. A perfect example is director/cinematographer Ron Ficke’s Baraka (1992), a masterpiece that depicts the ‘the essence of life’, transcending the limits of nature and time. A completely silent film, it is remarkable for having delivered a “message without words”, with its scintillating visuals accompanied with pristine musical scores.

Documentary film-making in terms of style and content has graduated over the years to reflect the persuasive creative ambition of filmmakers. Along with the aesthetic hues of romanticism and surrealism, the films have become more self-reflective and experimental. The ‘actuality’ art form of the yesteryears eventually became the energetic activist, in essence, threatening to topple the hegemonic powers of oppression. Powerful examples include Harlan County USA (1976), documenting a Kentucky coal-mine strike with an emphasis on social justice, Hearts and Minds (1974), Peter Davis’s mighty, merciless take on Vietnam war. 

In the final analysis, the genre of documentaries has extended much beyond the etymological sense of the term and carved new niches in its more than hundred years’ journey, blurring the thin line between fact and fiction, between narrative reportage and cinematic storytelling. The award-winning documentaries in recent years we see in Netflix, Amazon and other online streaming platforms bear testimony to this truth. 

References: 

Best documentaries of all time

50 Best Documentaries

History of documentary films

The golden age of documentary filmmaking

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