Comparative Paper
Life is not a piece of cake. Sometimes it can be exceedingly difficult to find the way out of its complicated paths. It is important to remain faithful to your life principles and never step the limits of decency. If the person aspires to find his piece of happiness in this rather cruel world, he must be prepared to face various hardships and transcend everyday obstacles. There is, however, one thing without which people will not be able to stand the test and continue to struggle forward to the desired goal. Nobody could pursue his dreams without the complete freedom of actions and the possibility to be the absolute creator of his own fate. The freedom assists in taking the just decisions and choosing the right life paths. There are a lot of examples in history when people had to carve their way to freedom. Some of them managed to put their intention into effect, the others suffered a defeat. The freedom for every person is something impossible to live without, like the deficiency of fresh air or lack of true love. Modern world has substantially changed peoples’ attitudes towards spiritual values. In their constant rush for profits and career, the humans often forget to be thankful for every moment of life. They are free to be in charge of their own lives and opt for any destination they want, however most prefer to set invisible limits. Exchanging the time spend with family into working to death is not surely a good penny-worth. People should learn how to breathe again that is to appreciate the freedom in all its sounds.
Let’s now speak about the question of freedom in details. There is a lot of deserving attention movies that can help to prove this rather significant theme. The fight for freedom is clearly presented in two quite dissimilar at first sight films such as Strike by Sergei Eisenstein and 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen. The deep longing for obtaining freedom motivates the actions of the characters of both movies, however the results of this pursuit are completely different. The main characteristic of the Strike is its characterless. Lacking any particularly interesting character, the story is worthy in itself. The viewers have to pay attention to the masses in order to understand the general idea and tone of the picture. Eisenstein managed to create such realistic scenes that you automatically become involved in all depicted confrontations. Using various techniques and distinctive approaches he produced an impressive drama from mass action and proved that even common worker could make a difference. Any person should not be glorified more than others because the hero of the story is actually the proletariat as a whole. The story of one factory is, in fact, the veritable depiction of the atmosphere of the entire pre-revolutionary Russia. The strike of 1903 illustrates the workers’ response to the cruel treatment of the administration and their extraordinary aspiration to change the existing situation. The little push was needed to incite the covert enmity and the suicide of one of the workers became the cornerstone in this tragic drama. Eisenstein here made use of his greatest theory of “the montage of shocks” (Leyda 121). Though the technique of contrasting short separate images in order to intensify the tension and make the desired splash had already been known, Russian filmmaker added his special tincture and somehow improved the existed approach. With creative freedom and unique talent of emotionality he succeeded in using various sudden-shock images to emphasize the overall stressful situation and highlighting the dramatic features. Watching all the bloody faces and cruel suppression of the workers, viewers involuntarily transform to the victims and experience all the horrors of the reality. The most striking image that surely will not leave anybody indifferent is the final scene of the story. Eisenstein used here such stylistic device as metaphor in comparing the violent suppression of the strike with the slaughtering of cattle. The use of contrasting scenes is a really brilliant idea. The enormous group of people was massacred with brutal violence and nobody had answered for the consequences. This fact makes the irrevocable horror even more shocking.
One more technique that can be seen as rather unusual is the application of the set of similar shots to provide the impressive effect of the same action performed by many people. In the story, for example, three shots of tools thrown to the ground indicated that all the workers were dropping their tools. Furthermore, in order to emphasize the importance of some events, Eisenstein deliberately distorts them rhythmically. Various fast dynamic actions such as the door slamming, is breaking by a film cut to make it even more influential. These techniques are especially popular in silent films. With different sharp cuts and sounds, filmmakers aim at making the action almost being heard in the viewers’ heads. Sometimes the sound is so sudden and the volume so loud that the impact achieved could remain in the viewers’ memory till the very end of the movie. It is incredibly difficult to amaze the public by silent films and it can sometimes be impossible to capture its attention and keep the public interested throughout the whole movie. Strike, however, is one of the greatest exceptions of the rules. Though it is far from being a masterpiece, the movie presents a stunning experience and unaffectedly gripping amusement. It can deservedly be named one of the most magnificent breathtaking debut films ever.
Speaking about the second film, the main character here is clearly marked. Throughout the movie viewers have a chance to live a life of a man who had been sold to slavery. The movie depicts the life path of the musician Solomon Northup and his interminable way to obtaining inborn freedom again. On the contrary to the Strike where the mass was fighting for their rights, Solomon is alone in his attempts to win what was granted to him together with life. Kidnapped from his family and native country, he has to go through real hell and prove the extraneous and hostile world that he is actually a free man. The viewers subconsciously believe in happy end and support the character in his ordeals. There are not such sudden-shock images as in Strike, however Steve McQueen managed to create his own original techniques and approaches. The most appreciable of them are obviously the disconnected editing schemes and overlapping sound design. When in the first movie the tension was created by a few sounds only, this film is full of various sounds and tones which increase the visual image and convince the viewers that all the violent scenes they are watching are not just simple exaggeration for greater emotional effect but the genuine truth of the reality. Its ferocious horrors and unbelievable animosity are chasing you all over the world. A lot of pieces of music are presented in the film to create some sort of distracting means and return the recent events of the happy past. The moment the melody is heard in the fields, Solomon becomes overwhelmed with the flow of memories and experiences. The time stops for him and he plunges in his free placid life. The viewers also forget about all the character’s troubles for an instant and find Solomon on the broad fields under the hot sun performing the joyful piece of music (Stepto 226). The music that Solomon is listening now and the one that is being resounded in his head are two completely opposite songs. The first is the melody of hatred that will forever be associated with the atrocity and ruthlessness of the people. The second is the song of his heart when he was experiencing the most amazing feelings of happiness and family’s cosiness. These two songs are now flowing together to create concurrently frightening and exciting sense of time passing by. Solomon has very little chances of escape and these precious memories are his only source of motivation and encouragement.
There comes a day when the character obtains his cherished freedom and returns to his family. After twelve years of enslavement and mental trauma, Solomon won “new fresh air to breathe” (Olney 239). Steve McQueen did not seek to depict his character as a national hero, but to create an image of brave human being. The man though faced with inconceivable truth of real world did not give up and managed to survive.
So, there are themes which will always be everlasting during any period. One of such themes is definitely the fright of freedom. It can be presented as a struggle of one human being for finding his piece of happiness or the strike of the mass. The results of this fight may end in various ways because life does not always have the happy ending. However, if you start to carve your way among complicated life paths do not stop in the middle of the road and learn to pursuit your cherished goal till the very end.
Works Cited
Leyda, Jay. Kino: A History Of The Russian And Soviet Film. New York: Macmillan, 1960.
Olney, James. I Was Born: Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1985.
Stepto, Robert Burns. “I Rose and Found My Voice: Narration, Authentication, and Authorial Control in Four Slave Narratives”. New York: Oxford UP, 1985.
Terms used
The montage of shocks – the technique of editing in order to create special impression and intensify the tension.
Editing – choosing of shots and combining them into successions to make a picture.
