Friday, May 4, 2012

Setting in "My Perestroika"


One aspect of My Perestroika I found most interesting was the filmmaker’s emphasis on setting and place.  There was minimal discussion on the apartment’s and living spaces that various people occupied but they were presented frankly and starkly throughout.  In particular, the filmmaker’s contrasted the two teacher’s crummy apartment that could be the inside of any High Street house with their businessman classmates lounging on his posh leather sofa in his spacious and modern apartment. Simple shots like these excellently illustrated how the fall of communism had changed the material reality of different groups in varying ways.  Clearly those who took advantage of the new capitalist system benefitted enormously while many others have seen much of this success pass them by.  Of course they still benefit from all sorts of new freedoms, but their own personal amenities and comforts are minimally improved. 

The simple and straightforward way the filmmaker went about this made it much more effective than another approach would have been.  They used many shots that showed various people moving about their everyday life in their apartments (as opposed to sitting at a table and being interviewed) and this helped draw attention to and demonstrate the realities of their lives in a way an interview never could.  Leaving it up to the viewer to make their own observations and draw their own conclusions made for a much more effective documentary. 

6 comments:

  1. This is a great point. I also remember being struck by some of the interesting shots that the filmmaker used, like focusing on the turtle or showing the woman's appointment at a hair salon.

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  2. I think you make a really good point about the effectiveness of just observing people rather than exhaustively interviewing them as a means of capturing the realities of life. I can't help but wonder, though, if such an approach lends itself to truly candid portrayals of life in post-socialist Russia. While we're treated to a a sort of fly-on-the-wall look at life the these various apartments and apartment complexes, I kept thinking about how the filmmaker's presence had to affect how people conducted themselves in their own homes. Were they trying to put their best foot forward? Were they distorting their testimony and daily routines to plug their own political agenda? I'm not sure how much this changes the message of My Perestroika, but it's interesting (and I think important) to consider nonetheless.

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  3. I agree, I found the indirect, nonverbal way of showing the different classes/lifestyles highly effective. Sometimes a visual representation/observation speaks more than if the filmmaker directly asks about everyday life.

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  4. Great point! The movie really placed the novel The Time: Night. I could more fully understand what the characters were going through.

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  5. Cary, I think you raise a good point, but given how crummy the apartment looks and how candid the interviewees are I think it's unlikely that the cameras had much of an impact. The best judge is probably how many hours the camera crews logged in the various apartments.

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  6. I really liked the scenes of life in the film, too. I wonder if the filmakers wanted to show the universality of family/domestic experience, even in a russian context.

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