Three movies that define Direct Cinema
Whenever the subject of documentary filmmaking is brought up, questions about authenticity almost always follow. Since the fundamental principle of the genre is to capture truth, both scholars and audiences have often wondered what role the camera itself plays in the relationship between the images on the screen and the inevitably modified realities that give birth to them.
One important period that resulted in a monumental evolution of this form of documentary realism was Direct cinema, championing a method that preferred using portable equipment such as handheld cameras over the extensive setups required in the past. Incorporating the use of synchronous sound and other technical advancements, a group of pioneers took documentaries to the next level, starting in the late 1950s and continuing well into the ’60s.
French director Jean Rouch is often referred to as one of the major points of origin for Direct Cinema, especially because of his seminal work Chronicle of a Summer. While Rouch himself used the term cinéma vérité to describe his brilliant film, many of the elements contained within Chronicle of a Summer facilitated the further development of Direct Cinema in the 1960s.
In order to properly understand how the craft of documentary filmmaking took shape in the 20th century, getting a good grasp on Direct Cinema is an essential task. That’s why we have selected three major highlights from Direct Cinema’s heyday, each representative of what made this subgenre so eye-opening and important.
Three movies that define Direct Cinema:
Dont Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967)
Perhaps the most famous example on this list, D.A. Pennebaker blew the domain of music documentaries wide open with Dont Look Back. Made during a time when cinematic revolutions were underway in different parts of the world, especially in France, Pennebaker’s unique coverage of Bob Dylan’s 1965 England tour remains a vital blueprint for filmmakers working in the same area today.
Ranging from the iconic ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ opening segment to more intimate visions of the artists featured, Pennebaker proved that using a 16mm handheld camera could create a unique cinematic atmosphere that could not be matched with exponentially more expensive equipment. The result is the documentary’s immortalisation in both film and music history.
Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)
Although he is into his 90s now, Frederick Wiseman has not given up his intense love for the medium, which was evident last year when he came out with one of the best documentaries of 2023: Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros. However, it was Titicut Follies that actually announced his remarkable vision to the world of cinema, using the principles of Direct Cinema to capture sociopolitical realities that others shied away from.
Presenting stark and haunting images of criminally insane inmates at a State Hospital, Wiseman asks us to question the institutions that use unimaginably brutal methods to repress their subjects, stripping away some of the last shreds of humanity that they are still holding on to. It marked the start of Wiseman’s relentless pursuit of such subjects, creating an intimidating body of work in the process.
Salesman (Maysles brothers and Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)
When speaking about the images that are inherent to the vision of the world that Direct Cinema propagated, there isn’t a better example than Charlotte Zwerin and the Maysles brothers’ 1969 work, Salesman. The concept is pretty simple, with the film depicting the struggles of Bible salesmen who desperately try to convince their working-class clientele that they need the bigger and more expensive holy books to feel closer to God.
It’s a damning indictment of America itself, caught between religious conservatism and capitalist exploitation, where both the agents of the system and the consumers are docile bodies playing their part in order to survive. Salesman is both an immersive portrait of American society as well as an unsettlingly bleak critique, whose images remain just as effective even after all these years.
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