When I saw this film I thought it was quite stunning, both in itself and for its time. But then I saw "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" (which predates this film by a year or so) a few days later and realized how much has been plagiarized. The trains, the shop window displays, the machinery mechanisms, even the close-ups of the typewriter keyboard are all just too similar to be coincidence. Watch it for the documentary view of early Soviet life, but don't take it as ground breaking Not all that original 3 robcat2075 2006-12-19 09:48:37 2006-12-19 09:48:37 Haven't watched the movie just yet, so can't comment on it. But a modern soundtrack was recorded just a few years ago and it is excellent. My rating, therefore, is only in regards to this soundtrack. From Wikipedia: "Man with a Movie Camera" is the fourth album by The Cinematic Orchestra. It is the soundtrack to a re-released version of the (then ground-breaking) 1929 silent documentary film, Man with a Movie Camera from Russian director Dziga Vertov. The Cinematic Orchestra were commissioned to record the score to play as the opening event in Porto, Portugal's year as European Capital of Culture in 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera_%28album%29 Modern Soundtrack is Available fotomatt 2007-03-29 18:41:21 2007-03-29 18:41:21 5 i don't no if somebody read this reviews here, well, i've just read and was quite surprised with the note that "Man with a Movie Camera" isn't that original at all and even was plagiarized from "Berlin: Symphony of a great city". and so i decided to find out more (downloading "Berlin" in the mean time). actually, don't get me wrong, "Man.." now has fresh huge impact on me, i'm quite stunned, thinking that Vertov was an "ordinary" genious, that simply forestall his time. by the way, i'm from Ukraine, where "Man.." was filmed) still, here some quotes of what i've found - "Berlin review": "the film was heavily influenced by the earlier works of Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov", "it's hard to top Dziga Vertov's The Man With a Movie Camera, released two years after this film.".. http://www.answers.com/Berlin%3A+Symphony+of+a+Great+City?cat=entertainment well, regarding the main idea of director Vertov - it's very hard to accomplish - to show life as it is. As it's just like in quantum mechanics: observer make impact on the object studied, and not simply by presence, but rather by this "so human" subjective seduction to find sense, to rationalize, to show someone's artistic view, rather than pure life of others. Say, imho, "Man.." in this respect maybe even better than modern films like, say, "Baraka".. As for Cinematic Orchestra soundtracking - it's actually one of my favourite bands and their album was the original motivation to find the film itself - well, CO made some really good job, but they are just talented=) - as i understand the original idea of music was to make it's floating under the human rush, as clouds in the sky.. but actually music at times "overfloat" the film, bluring sharp small details.. it's just to "cotton wooled", "clean", "safe" maybe... still the final scene is just greatly "sounding"!) somebody must be genious...?:) diod 2008-03-01 00:35:47 2008-03-01 00:35:47 5 good good gnu.animal 2008-03-06 19:49:31 2008-03-06 19:49:31 0 ES UN EXCELENTE MATERIAL EXPERIMENTAL DE LOS MEJORES DE LA VIEJA ESCUELA LA MEJOR PELICULA bobt3ch 2008-03-12 18:56:36 2008-03-12 18:56:36 5 It´s, maybe, the most creative movie of the cinema begginings. Vertov do a Jump in the edition theory. This is the old version but in 2002 The Cinematic Orchestra it created an OST for this movie, and if you can see this with the new music, the spectacle is wonderful. I recomended THANK YOU!!!! 1984 Producciones 2008-10-14 13:00:31 2008-10-14 13:00:31 5 There are many professional soundtracks available. See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera#Soundtracks">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera#Soundtracks</a> for details. Soundtracks - multiple montague 2009-01-27 05:34:32 2009-01-27 05:34:32 5 Writer-director Dziga Vertov gained his skills during the Russian Civil War filming the red Army and showing the footage in villages and towns. This experience, combined with his association with those of the Cine-Eye, resulted in this outstanding production that was fascinating, innovative, and a captivating tale not only of Soviet life, but a praise to the Soviet system. The film starts in the morning as the city (predominately Moscow, but others as well) awakens and people start to get ready to work. It follows the citizens through the day, and into the evening. It is non-linear. it does jump back and forth, but that only adds to the view. It shows birth and death, marriage and divorce, and, more importantly, the progress of life in the Soviet Union. We see manual sewing give way to the sewing machine, manual cigarette packaging transformed by machines, the abacus replaced by cash registers; all this to allow the citizens a more satisfying work experience so they can enjoy life after work and go to the shores on the weekend. There are many techniques in this film: slow motion, animation, multiple-images, split-screens, zooms and reverse zooms blurring focus and freeze frames. It is not only a work glorifying the Soviet Union, but a textbook o0n film-making. It is not only the camera work that is spectacular, but Vertov's wife did a spectacular job of editing. The sports segments were extremely imaginative in the way they were edited, as was the rest of the film. It is a masterpiece that stands the test of time. Honesty and perfection B-Movie Ben 2009-04-09 13:50:32 2009-04-09 13:50:32 5 8 4.71