The Dziga Vertov Group films produced by Gorin and Godard
are problematic despite their best efforts in eliminating the line between
the producers and viewers, because the medium inherently holds stultifiying
qualities. Cinema is a spectacle, by it's nature it is a one way medium.
The more pedantic the film, the more stultifying it becomes and therefore
undermines its own hopeful message. I will argue that Le Weekend (a
pre-Dziga Vertov Group Film) and Tout Va Bien more effectively
communicate their political / social commentary than La Chinoise (also
pre-Dziga Vertov Group) and Le Vent d'Est using Ranciere's
"Emancipated Spectator" and MacBean's article, "Godard and the
Dziga Vertov Group: Film and Dialectics" as my key texts.
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MacBean's article lays out the mindset and
intentions of the film makers of the Dziga Vertov Group. They sought to rid
themselves of the idea of bourgeois authorship and utilize Brechtian principles
throughout the film making process. They worked with other militants in the
cause through the physical process of film making, later to show these films to
militant workers and students. The films were meant to activate those in the
audiences to do more and continue to evolve their theory and practice, however
I would argue that the results are more stultifying and condescending than they
intended. Instead, more successful of the radical films in Godard's canon are Le
Weekend and Tout Va Bien precisely because they are more opened to
interpretation and lay out characters and sequences in a less overbearing and
more equidistant manner in line with the medium of cinema.
Linds
