This past Saturday my friends and I went to Cinema Village (New York) to see a theater release of a documentary called Iraq in Fragments. The film was more than what I had expected. It follows the story of three people, A eleven year old fatherless sunni Muslim, A Shia Muslim leader, and a young Kurdish Sunni Muslim boy.

The Style of story telling was the most unique to what I have seen. It seemed like a real film as opposed to a documentary. They way the film footage cuts from one type of movement to another shot or object that is doing the same movement, keeping the flow of the film very smooth and poetic.

Hitchcock was influenced by German and Russian film making. Some of the alternatives filmmaking that existed were Soviet Expression, German Expression and French Avant Garde.

Soviet Expression films were known to express the internal and subjective nature of reality. Basically expressing what is going on in the character’s mind. One of the way’s they would do that visually was to show bar-like shadows on the character’s face to show that he feels like he’s in prison.

German Expression films were known for displaying the psychological life of characters.

French Avant Garde (aka French Experimental) films hit on things such as art, culture, and politics.

In contemporary films you will see moments of expressionism. In Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” with Robert Dinero, there is a scene where hes driving, but everything has a red haze, as if hes driving through hell. This is to show that is how the character feels. Departed is also known for this, where Jack Nicholson’s face is almost always half in shadow to signify that he is two charactered.

Alfred Hitchcock is one of film history’s most acclaimed directors. He was popular and commercially successful. He was known as the “Master of Suspense”. He stated that, “Films should offer the highs and lows of a roller coaster. They should shriek with delight.” When making his films he was very much like a craftsman. He would carefully plan each of his shots.

He started in England during the silent film period. He believed that the most important means of telling a story was the joining of shots (editing).

In the 1950s French film critics started to evaluate Hitchcock’s work. These guys were auteur critics (as opposed to genre critics). They would compare his films to his other films. He was a strong personality and was able to transcend the whole assembly line thinking. His films had a lot of recurring elements, as well as a personal style. One thing he used a lot in some of his popular films was POV editing. He was able to make the audience identify or at least sympathize with the main character. Even if the character was a killer like in the movie “Psycho”

One of his movies that used POV editing a lot is a 1954 film “Rear Window“. Its about the nature of watching. Its a “reflexive” film because as an audience we tend to make assumptions, and thus we feel involved. We project our own fears and desires onto the screen.

If you wish to watch the movie “Rear Window”, search for it on Google Video. You will find it in segments.