The History Of The Devil - Documentary Questions Essay Examples

1. Explain how they represent the fundamental ideas and techniques of that movement while at the same time reflecting the individual styles of the filmmakers involved.
In The History of the Devil, the idea of Satan as a philosophical and psychological figure throughout history is examined, in a History Channel-documentary style program that demonstrates the new direction for these kinds of televised documentaries. The filmmakers present an extremely slick and sensational documentary with this film, offering many different interviews, powerful narration by a haunting British voice, and many moving illustrations that are dynamic and provocative. The beginning title splash card involves a moving series of frescos, showing various evil and Satanic imagery while death metal music plays in the background. All of this demonstrates a powerful and clearly pointed style of filmmaking that is geared toward sensationalism and tabloid-level fascination. Instead of having a solemn, indepth look at the Satanic movement itself and its sources, the information given feels as though it has been provided at a surface level. The 50 minute runtime, of course, prevents the filmmakers from making an incredibly deep investigation of the material, but it nonetheless seems disappointingly cagey in its presentation.
Nonetheless, the slick depiction of the documentary does manage to entertain - during much of the interview narration, the aforementioned motion comic-like shots, with various layers of drawings and figures moving in tandem to give the illusion of sweeping camera movements. Sometimes, cheesy dramatizations of a heavily made-up actor with flames behind him, licking a sword while wearing a leather jacket, are used to depict the Devil himself; it is in these images that we start to understand that the filmmakers are going less for journalistic integrity than they are entertainment value. Sensationalist narration of Satan's "legions of angels" and "demons" is overlaid in front of these (patently silly) images, removing the last semblances of legitimacy from the documentary as yet. The interviewers themselves are painted as "rock star" experts in their field, complete with priests wearing leather jackets and speaking in pleasant, even excitable vernacular about their subject in order to make the documentary "cool."
This lack of seriousness and reverence for its own subject is indicated in the flashy visuals they have in other areas. Many instances of archival footage or art displays of Satan are done through CGI shots pushing into all-animated movie theaters, complete with spinning and scrolling tarot cards that flash by the screen, showing nude art depictions of Satan. These images further the film's tendency for provocative imagery and sensationalism over journalism. The focus on pop culture, further on in the documentary, by showing film clips from The Exorcist and Bush-era Congress speeches, demonstrates the film's attempts to contemporize the subject matter.
Despite these complaints, there are many unique and informative elements to The History of the Devil that places the Satanic movement and history into interesting contexts. The actual elements of information presented are intriguing, and the documentary provides a wonderfully surface-level reading of the history of Satan (his origins as a trickster God, his behavior in the Old and New Testament, and his influences even today as an indicator for sin and hedonism). However, much of this is still presented with the shiny, amateur veneer of a History Channel documentary, which seems to fetishize these slick images at the expense of hard-hitting storytelling. The basic idea of this particular movement of documentary filmmaking is sensationalism - providing the most basic and provocative information possible and backing it up with lascivious images and lavish production design. Most of The History of the Devil looks manufactured, as we are seeing elements of animated film in addition to the brief snippets of documentary interviews and archival pictures and films of the devil in art and history. To that end, the films themselves seem more an exercise in titillation with elementary-level knowledge of a subject than a true documentary. Despite this, The History of the Devil still manages to entertain and enliven; the cheap parlor tricks that intersperse the information simply shows that the documentary attempts a strange special-effects feel that may be undeserved or poorly thought out.
2. Michael Moore, one of the 20th and 21st century's most provocative and politically active documentarians, is a film essayist of the highest order. While his political agenda is often aggressive and pervasive in his films, his films are effective examples of discussion of the themes of the work as opposed to a specific event or person, making them fine examples of essay films. In two of his films, Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore tackles issues of American conservatism and the collapse of its civilization into fear-mongering and alarmism.
Roger & Me discusses the issue of American capitalism through the effects of General Motors' decision to close several auto plants in Flint, Michigan, thus crippling the economy of this small town. While this is more or less focused on a specific topic, the essayist in Michael Moore explores the themes of crony capitalism and its effects on the American working man through these examples. He brings a very personal touch to the film by channeling these themes through his own experiences in the town and with the people in question; the beginning part of the film involves Super-8 archival home movies of his childhood, as he describes the kind of kid he was. He was "kind of a strange child," as he admits, but with a close connection, through his father, to the Flint, Michigan GM plants where his father worked. This connection to the company helped shape his and many others' families in the town, as these auto factories were the life's blood of Flint, Michigan. By using this personal touch, Moore is able to instill a sense of personal and emotional pathos to the eventual closing of the plant; because the audience sees Moore's pain and passion, the audience is suitably impassioned.
Moore, effectively through his narrative, uses the closing of the plant and its effects on Flint as a case study for America's dramatic income disparities, and the increasing carelessness of the upper-class and Big Business. Using the juxtaposition of a Beach Boys song ("Wouldn't It Be Nice?") with footage of the urban decay of Flint, as well as interviews with mentally destroyed factory workers and news footage of increasing destitution in the city, Moore provides a tongue-in-cheek, yet haunting depiction of the effects of America's existing deregulated capitalist system. Moore also compares this destitution to the president and the upper-class' patronizing, ineffective attempts to cheer up the town and get them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps (e.g. Reagan telling them to move elsewhere to find work). Through these techniques, Moore shows Flint as an example of how bad things could get if his real subject (crony capitalism) is not addressed.
Bowling for Columbine also employs a vast number of techniques to depict the state of the gun culture in America in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Using that particular event, and the fact that it captured the imagination of America at that time, as a backdrop for American's obsession with war and firearms, Moore tackled yet another uncomfortable truth about the United States. Thematically, Moore ties the theme of bowling (which Dylan and Eric did right before their shooting) into the rest of the film altogether, noting the metaphor of the game as indicative of our violent nature. While there is less of a personal stake in the narrative for Moore, he presents himself yet again as the star and investigator of this phenomenon of violence in America.
The film is fairly episodic, the narrative moving into chapters (Bowling, banks giving away guns as business incentives, WMDs and the military-industrial complex, America's aggression and culture of fear, gun violence statistics, an interview with NRA president Charlton Heston, etc.) to connect narrative threads into the overall perception that America is in love with gun violence, and has been sold a culture of fear and aggression that states that violence is the answer to conflict. This culture, in turn, inspired the Columbine shootings. The film, in doing this, answers many different questions that are much bigger and more pervasive than that single incident. Bowling does not follow a strict progression, or a particular person or event, but spans the entirety of the debate in America. it moves from Columbine itself to the Michigan bank that gives guns for bank accounts, and even interviews Charlton Heston. All of these ideas further the debate about gun culture in America as a whole, making it a fine example of an essay film.
3. The 1968 concert film Monterey Pop is one of the most fascinating music documentaries ever recorded, not only for its narrative skill but its ability to capture, in its most raw sense, one of the most influential music festivals of the 1960s - the Monterey Pop Festival in . It eschews some of the more explicit moralizing and narrative aspects of documentary films to act as mostly a showcase for the individual acts and shows that were performed at that festival; however, in doing so, it shows a wonderful cinema-verite approach that makes it feel like a significant snapshot of the rock scene and the hippie movement at the time. The film, through its triumphant and perfect renditions of these new, innovative artists, showcased a change in pop culture from theatricality to realism and from presentationalism to rawness. All these things and more became part of the beating heart of Monterey Pop, which featured performances from Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, and other 1960s rock and music icons.
Pennebaker does a superlative job of letting the event and its atmosphere speak for itself, the cinema verite style of filmmaking merely capturing what actually happened instead of reconstructing it from accounts and interviews. The opening credits sequence itself demonstrates the film's homespun and raw optimism, conveying the extreme and respectable attitude of the hippie movement, as the credits are clearly drawn onto the film itself, over grainy footage of burnt film and out of focus shots of drum kits and sets. The film, after the credits, begins with one exuberant fan who says, “Haven’t you ever been to a love-in? Gawd! I think it’s gonna be like Easter and Christmas and New Year’s and your birthday all together, ya know? The vibrations are just gonna be floating everywhere!” This becomes the mission statement of the film: to show just how much fun the free love movement was and continued to be at that time, a celebration of everything that made themselves special.
After that, we see an account of the producers of the event putting it all together and organizing the acts, shows in just a brief glimpse the nuts and bolts of what practicalities must be considered in creating this pop culture event. Pennebaker shows the crowd of anxious fans awaiting the start of the festival, showing the wonderful effect that all this planning and preparation has on the awaiting public. Smiling faces, bubbles and flowers adorn the beginning sequence, as the hippie movement is shown to be incredibly peaceful and optimistic. Even policemen are shown to interact jovially with the festival attendees, a dramatic image that jars with many depictions of interactions with the law (despite the concerns later in the film by the police chief about overcrowding). Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco" plays over this scene, the dulcet tones of the singer and the cheeriness of the ballad lends more evidence to this idea that the hippie movement, as personified through these festivals, is an event of cooperation and incredible spirit of life. Then follows an account of the producers of the event putting it all together and organizing the acts, shows in just a brief glimpse the nuts and bolts of what practicalities must be considered in creating this pop culture event.
Most of the crowd shots in the festival are of people blissing out and having a good time; overall, the festival is shown to be a welcoming place. This soon transitions to musical performances shown live on stage, the bands and artists' own exuberance echoing that of the spectators. The film quality is typically grainy, and most of the shots are filmed with a handheld camera, lending it a further atmosphere of candidness. Pennebaker's focus on closeups of both audience and performer feels intimate and personal, as we see each individual's interaction with (and response to) the festival itself.
In Monterey Pop, Pennebaker constantly transitions between the spectacle and the spectators, forming a communal and narrative connection between then; the artists feel just as much a part of the festival as the audience members. This presents the festival as a kind of strange hippie utopia, where even The Man is greeted with a smile and a tab of acid, and the audience just grooves out to some sweet tunes. It captures the spirit of the 1960s with a great deal of immediacy and vibrancy, as the cinema verite style places the viewer firmly within the events and atmosphere of this important cultural event.