Film In Social Context: Class #2: Past Imperfect

Lecture discussed how historical films make their own history.

Clips from The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928) showed one type of historical film - working off distant history. Although there is a real document stating what happened at Joan's trial, the interpretation of who is good and bad, who has the power, and how emotions came out, is entirely up to the director. Dreyer gives a powerful version of the story through close-ups of faces and controlled camera shots, giving an emotional and, in his words, a spiritual reality.

Clips from Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) showed another type of historical film - reworking history to match contemporary concerns. Although quite violent, the lead actors make the characters quite compelling through good looks and clever dialogue. Invented scenes give them more power. Multiple characters combined into fictional ones make cliff notes in order to tell a larger story. The film was also interpreted another way by the audience, as it was released at the height of Vietnam and Women's and racial struggles in America, endearing it as young outsiders fighting the establishment. Director Penn heard the war reports as they made the film and was inspired to make the violence in the film real and shocking, not movie-fake. The film is powerful and interesting in this context, and even positive in some respects. A great film but not a history lesson.

Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) showed a third type of historical film - playing out a possible scenario based on real people and realistic situations in order to prevent it from happening. Although this never happened, the order of events is (sadly) plausible and suggested in military documents, and the characters of the overbearing colonels, the Russians, and even Dr Strangelove, are based on very real people.