Beauty by Camera Angle

When thinking about Eisenstein's film, one scene in particular continues to play in my mind. The scene that I am referring to, takes place at the end of the film. There is a woman walking down a long set of stairs. The action in the scene is not what interest me. Its the way the scene was shot.

The camera view in the scene is one that was taken from above. Not a few feet, but like 20 feet above. The way it is shot makes the woman look very small, very fragile. To me the way that Eisenstein's films were shot is what made them a beautiful portrayal of Mexican actuality. I found myself watching an ordinary woman and sympathizing with how small she is in a "big world". I think that was the purpose of shooting this scene in this manner. As to show how small individuals really are in the general scheme of things. But in Mexican life these small almost unimportant people are seemingly in a world of fusion of past and present created by them.

Anyway, Eisenstein's way of causing the viewer too look at an ordinary situation in a different light makes the film beautiful, dare I even say I work of art.

Lost in Good Writting

(Mexican Revolution Refugees Fort Bliss, Texas 1914)

At first in my reading of “The Underdogs”, I found myself confused and easily distracted. Almost immediately, I have found this reading to be one of the hardest to follow. Not because it requires some sort of high intellectual engagement, rather because it fails to entertain. As sad as it is, I always feel the need to sympathize with a character or theme. I enjoy becoming engaged in a story. I think that the way this story is written, makes this almost impossible. When reading this, I have now had to approach it like a passage in a legal text. I consider the writing to be presumably unbiased, yet very cold in its approach. Azulas ability to almost “de-humanize” these experiences intrigues me. I find myself reading about war, rape, molestation, and discrimination as if they are normal parts of life. The way the author presents these horrific things is genius in my opinion.

Azulas description of events tends to have a dulling affect on me. As I read, I find myself studying the characters and accepting the criminal acts occurring as secondary to the greater picture. To me this is genius, perhaps because it allows me to really grasp how life was in Mexico during the Revolution. From reading, I have come to the conclusion that the people living in Mexico at this time were used to these high levels of crime. I think that during the Revolution, Mexico was not a civilized country. In fact, the way the novel reads, Mexico was a place of utter chaos. I think Azulas approach at de-humanizing the experience makes it “real” for the reader. I for one find myself just looking past these things as normal while I am reading. To me this is what makes his writing exquisite and intriguing.

Until we had discussed many of these crimes in class, I had not paid much attention to them. I found it interesting that I never noticed the horrible treatment of Camila by Cervantes. I also never really paid notice to the looting that was taking place. I think I found myself excusing these actions as just part of the war, “The Revolution”. So far this book has caught my attention not because of its ability to entertain, but its ability to hypnotize its readers into the situation by rare mental omission. This leads me to question whether I am the only person who has experienced “The Underdogs” like this, or if it could be a brilliant effect of Azuela’s skillful writing technique?

Click for more Mexican Revolution Images