Story of Film #1: Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Morality and Aesthetics

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

SPOILERS

It maybe seems bizarre to start a series on film's history on a movie made at the end of the 20th Century for a historical event the advent of cinema pre-dates. But then again it is a Steven Spielberg movie, a man whom for many people is the first - and maybe only - name you think of when it comes to a director. And Saving Private Ryan is Spielberg, for all the many goods, and for all the little ills. It is a phenomenal display of craft with an array of great performances, but so committed to singular ideals in individuals scenes that it creates both stunning moments of cinema, and sometimes the effect of moral whiplash.

Watching these battle scenes after many a year, the striking thing that is strange to consider now is how composed the movie is. For its reputation as the movie that birthed the modern day use of the "shaky-cam" to signify gritty action, the main thing that distinguishes Saving Private Ryan from the rest is how the visceral nature of erratic camera movement is juxtaposed with the preciseness of the frame when that camera eventually makes its mark.¹ The audience is never confused as to the location or the action involved, whether that being a medic who is performing operations whilst their patients are still being shot at,² to calling a higher chain of commands for assistance, to general moments of tactics and planning before a great shoot-off. Like our protagonists in Ryan we understand where we are and why and what we are doing there, we just wish that we weren't.

And that questioning of intention and command, along with the bonds between individuals in war, are probably the central themes of Saving Private Ryan. Our main characters talk only occasionally about the mission being to “win the war”, but aside from the Omaha Sequence the main mission and our character’s arcs come from saving or protecting an individual. The movie begins and ends with the American flag, but it is faded, grey, see-through, and as the movie end it looks like it is about to descend. No character talks about having a sense of patriotism, and the only character who sings the National Anthem is a German solider that gets it wrong.

A key piece of dialogue about this comes from Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), whom gives an emotional speech about his technique to falling asleep:

When my mother was an intern, she used to work late through the night... sleep through the day. So the only time we'd ever get to talk about anything is when she'd get home. So what I... I used to do, I used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake as long as I could, but it never worked 'cause... 'cause the harder I'd try, the faster I'd fall asleep… Only thing is, sometimes she'd come home early, and I'd pretend to be asleep…She'd stand in the doorway looking at me... and I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day - that she came home early... just to talk to me. And I still wouldn't move... I'd still pretend to just be asleep. I don't know why I did that.

Here we see someone who is so committed to a routine that they are unable to connect to someone they are close to. While this speech is also an example of the writings more disappointingly obvious screenplay mechanics,³ it is also a great example of a man facing their death, showing they have been trapped in a single way of thinking and doomed to an their inevitable demise (Which Spielberg shows by trapping Wade’s head through another wooden “frame”).

In Ryan the American soldiers’ thoughts as the movie progresses are not about vague notions of the country, but about treating the individual man with the same thought and care as you would treat a member of family.⁴ And we see that connection play to its almost inevitable and horrific conclusion. In Cpt. Miller’s (Tom Hanks) first case of shock, the silence rings over the deaths of nameless soldiers and ends with a speaking face. In Miller’s final shock, we see a similar silent montage, full of people we have followed and grown to care for, and the final close-up of a face is that of a dead friend.

These individual moments epitomise that old mantra “war is hell”, and from American’s shooting soldiers that are attempting to surrender, to others (particularly Reiben, played by Edward Burns) questioning orders that result in guns being pointed at, this is the closest Spielberg comes to a sense moral ambiguity. But to paraphrase FilmCritHulk, where a director like Kubrick has 100 different ideas going on in a scene or shot, Spielberg has one idea that he does exceedingly well at. And because of Spielberg’s conviction to the individual moment, the sense of moral greyness is not consistent throughout the enitre picture.

A great example of this moral confusion caused by filmmaking choices involves two moments with the German solider (Joerg Stadler), credited as “Steamboat Willie”, both which take place in the final battle sequence. The first is the stabbing of Mellish (Adam Goldberg). The close up profile angles of him as he slowly plunges a knife into Mellish’s, as Willie smiles whilst repeatingly hushing him, plays itself as director would portraying the typical villain in a movie. However, when Willie shoots at Captain Miller - the main character, and almost inarguably the most likeable - Spielberg makes the decision to film the fatal shot exclusively from Willie’s point of view, in the same over the solider manner we have seen the American soldiers shoot German’s from on countless occasions. It’s both a great example of the depersonalisation and the subjective value of death when it comes to war. It is an effect that is both distancing, non-judgemental and powerful. It is a shame that it had to proceed a scene that’s power had to come from such a traditional sense of evil.

And despite this moral ambiguity, Spielberg feels the need to where the clothes of patriotism and populism. The flag opening and closing the picture is seen as an example of this (though I would disagree that it actually is), but the most notable example, to many at least, is the framing device of Old Ryan,⁵ who stands at the grave of the dead Cpt. Miller to show how much he has “earned this” before giving the grave a salute. Yet despite its overly sentimental nature, it is a great summation of the movies central themes; how much we owe to other people, whether that be the individual, or the collective.

Saving Private Ryan is a movie that sometimes too committed to its emotion and populism to give a true sense of moral ambiguity, but is still a masterful piece of cinema by both Spielberg and his cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (even if occasionally the lighting of the scene is so bright it makes you want to cover your eyes) that overcomes the obviousness and confusion of some of the script beats. On top of all that is a great cast, anchored by another amazing performance from Tom Hanks, whom in an era of anti-heroes remind us that the desire to do well can be just as complex and intriguing as the desire to do bad. And even if don’t get time to engage sympathy for all of them, through their relationship with Miller we a true sense of protection and brotherhood.⁶

Next: We take a look at the first part of Krzysztof Kieślowski's three movie opus: Three Colours: Blue.

Notes

¹ The only time I found myself distracted by the moving camera was the shot in which the company first meet Private Ryan after blowing up an enemy tank. The idea of image becoming clearer does fit greatly into what is in the scene, but I thought the shake in that moment to somewhat out of place, and the wrong kind of noticeable.

² Despite Spielberg’s saccharine reputation, this beginning action sequence has two instances of the blackest comedy I’ve seen in a mainstream war film. One is the instance of Wade’s reaction to man who he is treating being shot, the other being the solider who has survived a headshot taking his helmet off in a moment of shock, only to be shot again. And yet both these moments do not detract from the realism and brutality of the scene.

³ What person doesn't watch this scene now and think to themselves “Yep, definitely going to die”?

⁴ A telling piece of dialogue as Miller purposefully draws fire to a fellow solider:

Sergeant Horvath: Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset. 

Captain Miller: I thought you were my mother.

⁵ Whom we are led to believe is Miller at the beginning, consider there is a very conscious zoom in to both of their eyes, as though the movie was Miller’s flashback.

⁶

Medic Wade: Corporal, what's your book about?

Cpl. Upham: It's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood developed between soldiers during war.

Pvt. Caparzo: Brotherhood? What do you know about brotherhood?

Story of Film: The List

Here it is: The list of all the movies featured on the documentary.

As I progress through the challenge, I shall put a link to the post for each movie next to the name on the list (or make the name an embedded link), perhaps speeding up the location of theses analyses as I also chart my own progress. Expect this post to be constantly edited, though no movies shall be changed.

[Forgive the formatting as of right now. This was an unfortunate side effect of the copy and paste process]


Episode 1 - Birth of the Cinema

Introduction

1. Saving Private Ryan (1998) dir. Steven Spielberg
2. Three Colors: Blue (1993) dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
3. Casablanca (1942) dir. Michael Curtiz
4. The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
5. Odd Man Out (1947) dir. Carol Reed
6. Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
7. Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
8. The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin

1895-1918: The World Discovers A New Art form or Birth of the Cinema

9. Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888) dir. Louis Le Prince
10. The Kiss (1896 film) (aka May Irwin Kiss) (1896) dir. William Heise
11. Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) dir. Louis Lumière
12. Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) dir. Louis Lumière
13. Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894-1896 ?) dir. William Kennedy Dickson or William Heise
14. Sandow (1894) dir. William Kennedy Dickson
15. What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901) dir. George S. Fleming and Edwin S. Porter
16. Cendrillon (1899) dir. Georges Méliès
17. Le voyage dans la lune (1902) dir. Georges Méliès
18. La lune à un mètre (1898) dir. Georges Méliès
19. The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) dir. George Albert Smith
20. Shoah (1985) dir. Claude Lanzmann
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir. Stanley Kubrick
22. The Sick Kitten (1903) dir. George Albert Smith
23. October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1928) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
24. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) dir. Sergio Leone
25. The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897) dir. Enoch J. Rector

1903-1918: The Thrill Becomes Story or The Hollywood Dream

26. Life of an American Fireman (1903) dir. Edwin S. Porter
27. Sherlock, Jr. (1924) dir. Buster Keaton
28. The Horse that Bolted (1907) dir. Charles Pathé
29. The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (aka The Assassination of the Duc de Guise) (1908) dir. Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes
30. Vivre sa vie (1962) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
31. Those Awful Hats (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
32. The Mended Lute (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
33. The Abyss (1910) dir. Urban Gad
34. Stage Struck (1925) dir. Allan Dwan
35. The Mysterious X (1914) dir. Benjamin Christensen
36. Häxan (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen
37. Ingeborg Holm (1913) dir. Victor Sjöström
38. The Phantom Carriage (1921) dir. Victor Sjöström
39. Shanghai Express (1932) dir. Josef von Sternberg
40. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) dir. Charles Tait
41. The Squaw Man (1914) dir. Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille
42. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner
43. Falling Leaves (1912) dir. Alice Guy-Blaché
44. Suspense (1913) dir. Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
45. The Wind (1928) dir. Victor Sjöström
46. Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908) dir. D. W. Griffith
47. The House with Closed Shutters (1910) dir. D. W. Griffith
48. Way Down East (1920) dir. D. W. Griffith
49. Orphans of the Storm (1921) dir. D. W. Griffith
50. The Birth of a Nation (1915) dir. D. W. Griffith
51. Rebirth of a Nation (2007) dir. DJ Spooky
52. Cabiria (1914) dir. Giovanni Pastrone
53. Intolerance (1916) dir. D. W. Griffith
54. Souls on the Road (aka Rojo No Reikan) (1921) dir. Minoru Murata

Episode 2 - The Hollywood Dream

1918-1928: The Triumph of American Film...

55. Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles
56. The Thief of Bagdad (1924) dir. Raoul Walsh
57. Desire (1936) dir. Frank Borzage
58. Gone with the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming
59. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
60. Singin' in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
61. The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. John Huston
62. The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg
63. The Cameraman (1928) dir. Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton
64. One Week (1920) dir. Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton
65. Three Ages (1923) dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline
66. Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) dir. John Spotton
67. The General (1926) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton
68. Divine Intervention (2002) dir. Elia Suleiman
69. Limelight (1952) dir. Charlie Chaplin
70. City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin
71. The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin
72. Bad Timing (1980) dir. Nicolas Roeg
73. The Great Dictator (1940) dir. Charlie Chaplin
74. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati
75. Toto in Color (1953) dir. Steno
76. Awaara (1951) dir. Raj Kapoor
77. Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
78. Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. Billy Wilder
79. Luke's Movie Muddle (1916) dir. Hal Roach
80. Haunted Spooks (1920) dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach
81. Never Weaken (1921) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
82. Safety Last! (1923) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
83. I Flunked, But... (1930) dir. Yasujirō Ozu

...And the First of its Rebels

84. Nanook of the North (1922) dir. Robert Flaherty
85. The House Is Black (1963) dir. Forough Farrokhzad
86. Sans Soleil (1983) dir. Chris Marker
87. Punk's Not Dead (2007) dir. Susan Dynner
88. The Perfect Human (1967) (shown as part of The Five Obstructions) dir. Jørgen Leth
89. The Five Obstructions (2003) dir. Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth
90. Blind Husbands (1919) dir. Erich von Stroheim
91. The Lost Squadron (1932) dir. George Archainbaud and Paul Sloane
92. Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim
93. Stroheim in Vienna (1948)
94. Queen Kelly (1929) (shown as part of Sunset Boulevard) dir. Erich von Stroheim
95. The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor
96. The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder
97. The Trial (1962) dir. Orson Welles
98. Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) dir. Yakov Protazanov
99. Posle Smerti (1915) dir. Yevgeni Bauer
100. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
101. Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
102. The President (1919) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
103. Vampyr (1932) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
104. Gertrud (1964) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
105. Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier

Episode 3 - The Golden Age of World Cinema

1918-1932: The Great Rebel Filmmakers Around the World

106. Robert and Bertram (1915) dir. Max Mack
107. The Oyster Princess (1919) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
108. The Mountain Cat (1921) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
109. The Marriage Circle (1924) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
110. La Roue (1923) dir. Abel Gance
111. Napoléon (1927) dir. Abel Gance
112.The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) dir. Robert Wiene
113.The Tell-Tale Heart (1928) dir. Charles Klein
114. The Lodger (1927) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
115.A Page of Madness (1926) dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa
116. Metropolis (1927) dir. Fritz Lang
117.Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) dir. F. W. Murnau
118. Opus 1 (1921) dir. Walter Ruttmann
119. Entr'acte (1924) dir. René Clair
120. Rien que les heures (1926) dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
121.Spellbound (1945) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
122. Un Chien Andalou (1929) dir. Luis Buñuel
123. Blue Velvet (1986) dir. David Lynch
124. L'Age d'Or (1930) dir. Luis Buñuel
125. Kino-Pravda n. 19 (1924) dir. Dziga Vertov
126. Glumov's Diary (1923) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
127. Battleship Potemkin (1925) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
128. The Untouchables (1987) dir. Brian De Palma
129. Arsenal (1928) dir. Alexander Dovzhenko
130. Earth (1930) dir. Alexander Dovzhenko
131.I Was Born, But... (1932) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
132. Tokyo Story (1953) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
133. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman
134. Osaka Elegy (1936) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
135. Chikamatsu Monogatari (1954) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
136. Mildred Pierce (1945) dir. Michael Curtiz
137. Romance of the West Chamber (1927) dir. Hou Yao and Minwei Li
138. Scenes of City Life (1935) dir. Yuan Muzhi
139. The Goddess (1934) dir. Wu Yonggang
140. Centre Stage (1992) dir. Stanley Kwan
141. New Women (1935) dir. Cai Chusheng

Episode 4 - The Arrival of Sound

The 1930s: The Great American Movie Genres...

142. Her Dilemma (aka Confessions of a Co-Ed) (1931) dir. Dudley Murphy
143. Love Me Tonight (1930) dir. Rouben Mamoulian
144. The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) dir. Carl Boese and Paul Wegener
145. Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale
146. Eyes Without a Face (1960) dir. Georges Franju
147. Audition (1999) dir. Takashi Miike
148. The Public Enemy (1931) dir. William A. Wellman
149. Scarface (1932) dir. Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson
150. Scarface (1983) dir. Brian De Palma
151.Seven Samurai (1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa
152. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) dir. Sergio Leone
153. The Iron Horse (1924) dir. John Ford
154. My Darling Clementine (1946) dir. John Ford
155. Twentieth Century (1934) dir. Howard Hawks
156. Bringing Up Baby (1938) dir. Howard Hawks
157. The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (1973) dir. Richard Schickel
158. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) dir. Winsor McCay
159. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) dir. Lotte Reiniger
160. Plane Crazy (1928) dir. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks
161. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) dir. David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen
162. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman

...And the Brilliance of European Film

163. The Blood of a Poet (1931) dir. Jean Cocteau
164. Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan
165. Zéro de conduite (1933) dir. Jean Vigo
166. If.... (1968) dir. Lindsay Anderson
167. L'Atalante (1934) dir. Jean Vigo
168. Le Quai des brumes (1938) dir. Marcel Carné
169. Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) dir. Marcel Carné
170. La Règle du jeu (1939) (aka The Rules of the Game) dir. Jean Renoir
171.La Grande Illusion (1937) dir. Jean Renoir
172. Limite (1931) dir. Mário Peixoto
173. The Adventures of a Good Citizen (1937) dir. Stefan Themerson
174. Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) dir. Roman Polanski
175. Das Blaue Licht (1932) dir. Leni Riefenstahl
176. Triumph of the Will (1935) dir. Leni Riefenstahl
177. Behind the Scenes of the Filming of the Olympic Games (1937) dir. Leni Riefenstahl
178. Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938) dir. Leni Riefenstahl
179. Tiefland (1954) dir. Leni Riefenstahl
180. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) dir. Ray Müller
181. Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
182. Saboteur (1942) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
183. Sabotage (1936) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
184. The 39 Steps (1935) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
185. Marnie (1964) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
186. Ninotchka (1939) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
187. The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming

Episode 5 - Post-War Cinema

1939-1952: The Devastation of War...And a New Movie Language

188. Rome, Open City (1945) dir. Roberto Rossellini
189. Stagecoach (1939) dir. John Ford
190. Directed by John Ford (1971) dir. Peter Bogdanovich
191. Flesh and the Devil (1926) dir. Clarence Brown
192. Follow the Boys (1944) dir. A. Edward Sutherland
193. Me and Orson Welles (2008) dir. Richard Linklater
194. Chimes at Midnight (1965) dir. Orson Welles
195. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) dir. William Wyler
196. Code Unknown (2000) dir. Michael Haneke
197. Sátántangó (1994) dir. Béla Tarr
198. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) dir. Jean Negulesco
199. Un Homme et une Femme (1966) dir. Claude Lelouch
200. Heat (1995) dir. Michael Mann
201. Raging Bull (1980) dir. Martin Scorsese
202. Bicycle Thieves (1948) dir. Vittorio De Sica
203. Pin Up Girl (1944) dir. H. Bruce Humberstone
204. Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder
205. Portrait of a 66% Perfect Man: Billy Wilder (1982) dir. Annie Tresgot
206. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) dir. Fritz Lang
207. The Big Sleep (1946) dir. Howard Hawks
208. Rio Bravo (1959) dir. Howard Hawks
209. Out of the Past (1947) dir. Jacques Tourneur
210. The Hitch-Hiker (1953) dir. Ida Lupino
211.Little Caesar (1931) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
212. La Chienne (1931) dir. Jean Renoir
213. Scarlet Street (1945) dir. Fritz Lang
214. American Cinema: Film Noir (1995) dir. Alain Klarer
215. Gun Crazy (1950) dir. Joseph H. Lewis
216. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) dir. Arthur Penn
217. L.A. Confidential (1997) dir. Curtis Hanson
218. Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott
219. The Dark Knight (2008) dir. Christopher Nolan
220. Siva (1989) dir. Ram Gopal Varma
221. Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron
222. An American in Paris (1951) dir. Vincente Minnelli
223. The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
224. Flying Down to Rio (1933) dir. Thornton Freeland
225. Indiscreet (1958) dir. Stanley Donen
226. Two for the Road (1967) dir. Stanley Donen
227. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
228. Post Haste (1933) dir. Humphrey Jennings
229. Listen to Britain (1942) dir. Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister
230. The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed
231. The True Glory (1945) dir. Carol Reed and Garson Kanin

Episode 6 - Sex & Melodrama

1953-1957: The Swollen Story: World Cinema Bursting at the Seams

232. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) dir. Nicholas Ray
233. Cairo Station (1958) dir. Youssef Chahine
234. Paper Flowers (1959) dir. Guru Dutt
235. Raja Harishchandra (1913) dir. Dadasaheb Phalke
236. Sant Tukaram (1936) dir. Vishnupant Govind Damle and Sheikh Fattelal
237. Pather Panchali (1955) dir. Satyajit Ray
238. Devi (1960) dir. Satyajit Ray
239. Mother India (1957) dir. Mehboob Khan
240. Two Stage Sisters (1964) dir. Xie Jin
241. Ikiru (1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa
242. Stray Dog (1949) dir. Akira Kurosawa
243. Throne of Blood (1957) dir. Akira Kurosawa
244. The Godfather (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
245. The Magnificent Seven (1960) dir. John Sturges
246. Rio 40 Graus (aka Rio 100 Degrees F.) (1955) dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos
247. Doña Bárbara (1943) dir. Fernando de Fuentes and Miguel M. Delgado
248. The Wild Bunch (1969) dir. Sam Peckinpah
249. La perla (1947) dir. Emilio Fernández
250. Los Olvidados (1950) dir. Luis Buñuel
251. All That Heaven Allows (1955) dir. Douglas Sirk
252. I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1975) dir. David Helpern
253. Johnny Guitar (1954) dir. Nicholas Ray
254. Fireworks (1947) dir. Kenneth Anger
255. Scorpio Rising (1964) dir. Kenneth Anger
256. Marty (1955) dir. Delbert Mann
257. On the Waterfront (1954) dir. Elia Kazan
258. Red River (1948) dir. Howard Hawks and Arthur Rosson
259. Touch of Evil (1958) dir. Orson Welles
260. The Searchers (1956) dir. John Ford
261. Great Expectations (1946) dir. David Lean
262. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) dir. David Lean
263. Dreamland (1953) dir. Lindsay Anderson
264. ...And God Created Woman (1956) dir. Roger Vadim

Episode 7 - European New Wave

1957-1964: The Shock of the New - Modern Filmmaking in Western Europe.

265. Summer with Monika (1953) dir. Ingmar Bergman
266. The Seventh Seal (1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman
267. Winter Light (1963) dir. Ingmar Bergman
268. Persona (1966) dir. Ingmar Bergman
269. Pickpocket (1959) dir. Robert Bresson
270. Au hasard Balthazar (1966) dir. Robert Bresson
271. Ratcatcher (1999) dir. Lynne Ramsay
272. Mon Oncle (1956) dir. Jacques Tati
273. Fellini's Casanova (1976) dir. Federico Fellini
274. Nights of Cabiria (1957) dir. Federico Fellini
275. 8½ (1963) dir. Federico Fellini
276. Stardust Memories (1980) dir. Woody Allen
277. Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Agnès Varda
278. Last Year at Marienbad (1961) dir. Alain Resnais
279. The 400 Blows (1959) dir. François Truffaut
280. À bout de souffle (1959) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
281. Une femme mariée (1964) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
282. American Gigolo (1980) dir. Paul Schrader
283. Accattone (1961) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
284. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
285. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) dir. Sergio Leone
286. Senso (1954) dir. Luchino Visconti
287. Rocco and His Brothers (1960) dir. Luchino Visconti
288. L'eclisse (1962) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
289. The Passenger (1975) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
290. The Travelling Players (1975) dir. Theodoros Angelopoulos
291. The Wheelchair (1960) dir. Marco Ferreri
292. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) dir. Pedro Almodóvar
293. Viridiana (1961) dir. Luis Buñuel
294. I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) dir. Vilgot Sjöman
295. La Maman et la Putain (1973) dir. Jean Eustache

Episode 8 - New Directors, New Form
1965-1969: New Waves - Sweep Around the World.

296. Ashes and Diamonds (1958) dir. Andrzej Wajda
297. Hamlet (1948) dir. Laurence Olivier
298. Knife in the Water (1962) dir. Roman Polanski
299. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) dir. Roman Polanski
300. The Hand (1965) dir. Jiří Trnka
301. The Fireman's Ball (1967) dir. Miloš Forman
302. Daisies (1966) dir. Věra Chytilová
303. The Red and the White (1968) dir. Miklós Jancsó
304. Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch (2000) dir. Chris Marker
305. Andrei Rublev (1966) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
306. The Mirror (1975) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
307. Stalker (1979) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
308. Nostalghia (1983) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
309. Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors (1965) dir. Sergei Parajanov
310. Andrei Tarkovsky & Sergei Parajanov – Islands (1988) dir. Levon Grigoryan
311.Boy (1969) dir. Nagisa Oshima
312. In the Realm of the Senses (1976) dir. Nagisa Oshima
313. Love and Crime (1969) dir. Teruo Ishii
314. The Insect Woman (1963) dir. Shōhei Imamura
315. Nippon Sengoshi - Madamu Onboro No Seikatsu (1970) dir. Shōhei Imamura
316. Ajantrik (1958) dir. Ritwik Ghatak
317. The Cloud-Capped Star (1960) dir. Ritwik Ghatak
318. Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1975) dir. Ritwik Ghatak
319. Uski Roti (1970) dir. Mani Kaul
320. Black God, White Devil (1964) dir. Glauber Rocha
321. I Am Cuba (1964) dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
322. Black Girl (1966) dir. Ousmane Sembène
323. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) dir. Karel Reisz
324. Kes (1969) dir. Ken Loach
325. A Hard Day's Night (1964) dir. Richard Lester
326. Primary (1960) dir. Robert Drew
327. Shadows (1959) dir. John Cassavetes
328. Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
329. 66 Scenes from America (1982) dir. Jørgen Leth
330. Blow Job (1963) dir. Andy Warhol
331. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) dir. Mike Nichols
332. Medium Cool (1969) dir. Haskell Wexler
333. Easy Rider (1969) dir. Dennis Hopper
334. Making "The Shining" (1980) dir. Vivian Kubrick
335. Der Sieger (1922) dir. Walter Ruttmann

Episode 9 - American Cinema of the 70s

1967-1979: New American Cinema.

336. Duck Soup (1933) dir. Leo McCarey
337. Artists and Models (1955) dir. Frank Tashlin
338. Catch 22 (1970) dir. Mike Nichols
339. Mash (1970) dir. Robert Altman
340. The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nichols
341. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) dir. Miloš Forman
342. The Last Movie (1971) dir. Dennis Hopper
343. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) dir. Robert Altman
344. The Conversation (1974) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
345. Mean Streets (1973) dir. Martin Scorsese
346. Italianamerican (1974) dir. Martin Scorsese
347. Light Sleeper (1992) dir. Paul Schrader
348. The Walker (2007) dir. Paul Schrader
349. Killer of Sheep (1978) dir. Charles Burnett
350. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
351. Annie Hall (1977) dir. Woody Allen
352. Manhattan (1979) dir. Woody Allen
353. The Last Picture Show (1971) dir. Peter Bogdanovich
354. The Wild Bunch (1969) dir. Sam Peckinpah
355. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) dir. Sam Peckinpah
356. Badlands (1973) dir. Terrence Malick
357. Days of Heaven (1978) dir. Terrence Malick
358. Cabaret (1972) dir. Bob Fosse
359. Chinatown (1974) dir. Roman Polanski
360. Jules et Jim (1962) dir. François Truffaut

Episode 10 - Movies to Change the World
1969-1979: Radical Directors in the 70s - Make State of the Nation Movies.

361. Fox and His Friends (1975) (aka Faustrecht der Freiheit) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
362. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) (aka Angst essen Seele auf) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
363. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (aka Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
364. All About Eve (1950) dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
365. Alice in the Cities (1974) (aka Alice in den Städten) dir. Wim Wenders
366. An Affair to Remember (1957) dir. Leo McCarey
367. Gods of the Plague (1970) (aka Götter der Pest) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
368. The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) (aka Das zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages) dir. Margarethe von Trotta
369. Burden of Dreams (1982) dir. Les Blank
370. Arabian Nights (1974) (aka Il fiore delle mille e una notte) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
371. The Spider's Stratagem (1970) (aka Strategia del ragno) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
372. The Conformist (1970) (aka Il conformista) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
373. Women in Love (1969) dir. Ken Russell
374. Performance (1970) dir. Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg
375. Walkabout (1971) dir. Nicolas Roeg
376. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) dir. Peter Weir
377. My Brilliant Career (1979) dir. Gillian Armstrong
378. Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971) dir. Noriaki Tsuchimoto
379. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987) dir. Kazuo Hara
380. Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) dir. Richard Thorpe
381. La nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua (1971) dir. Assia Djebar
382. Xala (1975) dir. Ousmane Sembène
383. Sinemaabi: A Dialogue with Djibril Diop Mambéty (1997) dir. Beti Ellerson Poulenc
384. Badou Boy (1970) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty
385. Hyènes (1992) (aka Hyenas/Ramatou) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty
386. Kaddu Beykat (1975) (aka Lettre paysanne) dir. Safi Faye
387. Harvest: 3,000 Years (1976) (aka Mirt sost shi amit) dir. Haile Gerima
388. Umut (1970) (aka Hope) dir. Yilmaz Güney & Serif Gören
389. Yol (1982) dir. Yilmaz Güney & Serif Gören
390. The Battle of Chile (1975/1977/1979) (aka La batalla de Chile) dir. Patricio Guzmán
391. The Holy Mountain (1973) (aka La montaña sagrada) dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky

Episode 11 - The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

1970s and Onwards: Innovation in Popular Culture - Around the World.

392. The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959) dir. Li Han-hsiang
393. A Touch of Zen (1971) dir. King Hu
394. Enter the Dragon (1973) dir. Robert Clouse
395. A Better Tomorrow (1986) dir. John Woo
396. Iron Monkey (1993) dir. Yuen Woo-ping
397. The Matrix (1999) dir. Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski
398. Once Upon a Time in China (1991) dir. Tsui Hark
399. New Dragon Gate Inn (1992) dir. Raymond Lee
400. Mughal-e-Azam (1960) dir. K. Asif
401. Mausam (1975) dir. Gulzar
402. Zanjeer (1973) dir. Prakash Mehra
403. Sholay (1975) dir. Ramesh Sippy
404. The Message: The Story of Islam (1976) (aka Mohammad, Messenger of God) dir. Moustapha Akkad
405. The Making of an Epic: Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976) dir. Geoffrey Helman & Christopher Penfold
406. The Sparrow (1972) dir. Youssef Chahine
407. The Exorcist (1973) dir. William Friedkin
408. A Guy Named Joe (1943) dir. Victor Fleming
409. Jaws (1975) dir. Steven Spielberg
410. The Making of Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1995) dir. Laurent Bouzereau
411. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) dir. Steven Spielberg
412. Jurassic Park (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg
413. The Hidden Fortress (1958) dir. Akira Kurosawa

Episode 12 - Fight the Power: Protest in Film

The 1980s: Moviemaking and Protest - Around the World.

414. The Horse Thief (1988) dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang
415. Yellow Earth (1985) dir. Chen Kaige
416. Raise the Red Lantern (1991) dir. Zhang Yimou
417. House of Flying Daggers (2004) dir. Zhang Yimou
418. Repentance (1984) dir. Tengiz Abuladze
419. Arsenal (1929) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Alexander Dovzhenko
420. Come and See (1985) dir. Elem Klimov
421. A Long Goodbye (1971) dir. Kira Muratova
422. A Short Film About Killing (1988) dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
423. Wend Kuuni (1983) dir. Gaston Kaboré
424. Yeelen (1987) dir. Souleymane Cissé
425. Flashdance (1983) dir. Adrian Lyne
426. Top Gun (1986) dir. Tony Scott
427. The Elephant Man (1980) dir. David Lynch
428. Do the Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee
429. Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980) dir. John Sayles
430. Subway (1985) dir. Luc Besson
431. Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991) dir. Leos Carax
432. Labyrinth of Passion (1982) dir. Pedro Almodóvar
433. The Quince Tree Sun (1992) dir. Víctor Erice
434. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) dir. Stephen Frears
435. My Childhood (1972) dir. Bill Douglas
436. Gregory's Girl (1981) dir. Bill Forsyth
437. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) dir. Terence Davies
438. Young at Heart (1954) dir. Gordon Douglas
439. A Zed & Two Noughts (1986) dir. Peter Greenaway
440. The Last of England (1988) dir. Derek Jarman
441. Videodrome (1983) dir. David Cronenberg
442. Crash (1996) dir. David Cronenberg
443. Neighbours (1952) dir. Norman McLaren
444. Jesus of Montreal (1989) dir. Denys Arcand

Episode 13 - New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America

1990-1998: The Last Days of Celluloid - Before the Coming of Digital.

445. The Apple (1998) dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
446. A Moment of Innocence (1996) dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
447. Where Is the Friend's Home? (1987) dir. Abbas Kiarostami
448. And Life Goes On (1991) dir. Abbas Kiarostami
449. Through the Olive Trees (1994) dir. Abbas Kiarostami
450. Days of Being Wild (1990) dir. Wong Kar-wai
451. In the Mood for Love (2000) dir. Wong Kar-wai
452. Irma Vep (1996) dir. Olivier Assayas
453. A City of Sadness (1989) dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
454. Vive L'Amour (1994) dir. Tsai Ming-liang
455. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto
456. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto
457. Ringu (1998) dir. Hideo Nakata
458. Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
459. Breaking the Waves (1996) dir. Lars von Trier
460. La Haine (1995) dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
461. Humanité (1999) dir. Bruno Dumont
462. Rosetta (1999) dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
463. Touki Bouki (1973) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty
464. Beau travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis
465. Late Spring (1949) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
466. Crows (1994) dir. Dorota Kędzierzawska
467. Wednesday (1997) dir. Victor Kossakovsky
468. 24 Realities a Second (2004) dir. Nina Kusturica and Eva Testor
469. Funny Games (1997) dir. Michael Haneke

Episode 14 - New American Independents & The Digital Revolution

The 1990s: The First Days of Digital - Reality Losing Its Realness in America and Australia.

470. Gladiator (2000) dir. Ridley Scott
471. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) dir. James Cameron
472. Anchors Aweigh (1945) dir. George Sidney
473. Toy Story (1995) dir. John Lasseter
474. The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez
475. Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese
476. The Great Train Robbery (1903) dir. Edwin S. Porter
477. The Killers (1946) dir. Robert Siodmak
478. Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino
479. Reservoir Dogs (1992) dir. Quentin Tarantino
480. City on Fire (1987) dir. Ringo Lam
481. Bande á Part (1964) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
482. Natural Born Killers (1994) dir. Oliver Stone
483. Miller's Crossing (1990) dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
484. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
485. Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
486. The Big Lebowski (1998) dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
487. My Own Private Idaho (1991) dir. Gus Van Sant
488. The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
489. Elephant (2003) dir. Gus Van Sant
490. Elephant (1989) dir. Alan Clarke
491. Gerry (2002) dir. Gus Van Sant
492. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman
493. Last Days (2005) dir. Gus Van Sant
494. Psycho (1998) dir. Gus Van Sant
495. Cremaster 3 (2002) dir. Matthew Barney
496. RoboCop (1987) dir. Paul Verhoeven
497. Starship Troopers (1997) dir. Paul Verhoeven
498. An Angel at My Table (1990) dir. Jane Campion
499. The Piano (1993) dir. Jane Campion
500. Romeo + Juliet (1996) dir. Baz Luhrmann
501. Moulin Rouge! (2001) dir. Baz Luhrmann

Episode 15 - Cinema Today and the Future
2000 Onwards: Film Moves Full Circle - and the Future of Movies.

502. Swiss Miss (1938) dir. John G. Blystone and Hal Roach
503. Blonde Venus (1932) dir. Josef von Sternberg
504. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) dir. Michael Moore
505. The Bourne Supremacy (2004) dir. Paul Greengrass
506. Être et avoir (2002) dir. Nicolas Philibert
507. Zidane - A Portrait in the 21st Century (2006) dir. Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno
508. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) dir. Andrew Dominik
509. Climates (2006) dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
510. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) dir. Cristi Puiu
511. The Headless Woman (2008) dir. Lucrecia Martel
512. Battle in Heaven (2005) dir. Carlos Reygadas
513. Oasis (2002) dir. Lee Chang-Dong
514. Memories of Murder (2003) dir. Bong Joon-ho
515. Oldboy (2003) dir. Park Chan-wook
516. Mulholland Dr. (2001) dir. David Lynch
517. Requiem for a Dream (2000) dir. Darren Aronofsky
518. Songs from the Second Floor (2000) dir. Roy Andersson
519. Way Out West (1937) dir. James W. Horne
520. Rules of Attraction (2002) dir. Roger Avary
521. Avatar (2009) dir. James Cameron
522. Motion Capture Mirrors Emotion (2009) dir. Jorge Ribas
523. Tropical Malady (2004) dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
524. Mother and Son (1997) dir. Alexander Sokurov
525. Russian Ark (2002) dir. Alexander Sokurov

Epilogue the Year 2046

526. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) dir. Michel Gondry

Story of Film: A Charming and Eloquent Introduction Designed to Peak Your Interests.

Hello there reader. I am here to set myself a challenge, and I hope you will follow me in my endeavours.

In 2012, film critic Mark Cousins released The Story of Film, a extensive 15 part documentary that followed film from its inception to Inception. I personally found it very engaging and informative, and upon finishing all of its parts I searched for some of the films it featured of which I was not previously aware. On the Wikipedia page for the documentary, I found an extensive list of the films that were in it. When not counting repetitions and other things like music videos or television, the list tallies up to 526 films.

And I am going to watch every one of them. In full. Then afterwards write a post about them.

Upon discussions with other people, I have decided that this project will chart the films in the order of which they appeared in the documentary. This will provide a sometimes eclectic assortment that will make me make connections between the films that are not just the ones conveyed by Mark Cousins. Of course there may be some problems with this. The gap in the length of the movie could move from 10 seconds in the first post to 9 hours in the second, thus creating a wide variety in the amount of which I write for you. And also there will be some films that will be difficult or near impossible to obtain, and to adhere strictly to one order could halt my progress.There are no problems as of yet though. So, "cross that bridge" and whatnot. 

As for the title of this blog? Well I felt there is somewhat of an arrogance to the documentaries title, The Story of Film, as though this was the first and last story that should be told. And my story is not just one of many others (such as yours), but one that is deliberately designed to follow off another (that of Cousins'). 

So here I am, in 2015, to present you with a Story of film - my Story of Film - as I essentially create my own film school from the template of another. Hopefully we will all learn some things together.

Let us begin. You know, whenever I can.