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.