One of my favorite shots, one which really shows the power of the long take when in the hands of a master, is near the end of Grigoriy Chukhrays Ballad of a Russian Soldier, visible below at 1:23:03. It is World War II, and the 19 year old soldier Alyosha is on leave to visit his mother and repair her roof. On the way, he is caught up in the chaos of the Eastern Front, meets various people, falls in love, and encounters many obstacles as he makes his way home. Finally, at the end, he is able to snatch a few brief seconds with his mother before he has to make his way back to the front. The shot begins simply enough as a medium shot of Aloysha and his mother. The mothers face, with her back to the camera, cannot be seen. We can only see Aloyshas stricken face as he bids farewell, the truck horn that is pulling him back to the front going off behind him, the fields and the forest visible in the distance behind him. This is almost an over the shoulder shot; not a POV shot, per se, but one which functions like a POV. This is how the boy appears to his mother as she is forced to watch him leave. As Aloysha moves towards the truck, the camera moves with him, keeping his face in view. Here, the broader community of the village comes into the frame, asking for news of loved ones at the front, asking him when the war is going to end. When the camera sets down again, we are staring down a winding road. The composition is similar to what it was at the beginning of the shot in that the mother has her back to us, and the focus is again on Aloyshas face. Behind, the road stretches off into the distance, the vast emptiness of the Russian steppes, the stark line of the horizon. The soundtrack cuts to silence, and we, again from the viewpoint of the mother, watch him dwindle into the distance, getting smaller and smaller, finally vanishing. We know, from the start of the movie hes never coming back. Forty seven of the most sublime seconds in film. https://youtube/watch?v=h0zr877200s&feature=player_embedded
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:20:42 +0000
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