A close introspection of the genres of fiction and documentary forms of cinematic works would make one comprehend that the two types of films are different yet similar in many ways. For example, one can take into consideration the Japanese fictional film, Rashomon (1950), directed by Akira Kurosawa. This film tells the same story with three different perspectives (of three different characters of the film) and the narrative is constructed by the chronological portrayal of the three versions of the same occurrence. In contrast, the documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk, directed by Rob Epstein tells the story of Harvey Milk’s life as an openly gay politician in USA. There is no scope of multiple perspectives in such a documentary film. The narrative is constructed by portraying the story with an objective point of view. Thus, it can be comprehended that the narratives of a fiction and a documentary have different liberties and scopes.
However, one similarity is that both a fiction and a documentary would have climactic sequence. This is the high-point in the course of the portrayal of the story of the film. As such, one finds the climax in the film by Kurosawa when the three versions of the occurrence of killing of a man are explicated and the judgment is left on the men who are discussing the matter on a certain day. On the other hand, in the documentary on Harvey Milk, the climactic sequence is reached when the protagonist becomes the symbol of gay political achievement and is finally assassinated. Thus, it would be correct to opine that both the narratives of a fiction and a documentary would have a climactic sequence. Although the genres of fiction and nonfiction are different from one another in a number of ways, being genres of the domain of cinema, they share some commonalities in approach and portraiture as well.
Works Cited
Rashomon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō. Daiei Film Co.,
Ltd., 1950. Film.
The Times of Harvey Milk. Dir. Rob Epstein. Perf. Harvey Fierstein. New Yorker Films,
2001. Film.
