Nanook of the North – Anemic Cinema – Man with a Movie Camera

These three films were all silent films made in the 1920’s. Of the three films, Nanook of the North is the most traditional form documentary because it follows a story line with characters. This film captured the life and struggles of Nanook and his family in the Arctic. The film focuses on characters as they search for goods and trade in the north. To help tell the story, director Robert J. Flaherty used cards as explanations in the beginning as well as to explain each scene of the film. This is an observational film and in my opinion could be classified as a cinema vertie. Anemic Cinema is a purely poetic film that depicts spinning hypnotic drawings alternating with puns in French. The film is considered an experimental avant-garde film. Man with a Movie Camera could also be considered a poetic film. However, it does have traditional traits because of the Vertov relationship with the character and the city. It is also considered avant-garde style.