[Mikhail Kaufman On Train], still from *Man with a Movie Camera*.
@ -39,7 +40,6 @@ This section covers roughly minutes 9-19 of the complete film:
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> *[Man With a Movie Camera, Part 2] (~9m 00 to 19m 00).*
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Nearly 21 minutes in, a sequence commences featuring the Camera Operator (presumably Mikhail Kaufman, Vertov’s younger brother and principal cameraman during this time) perched dangerously atop a moving car as he photographs the passengers in nearby horse-drawn carriages. The Cameraman furiously cranks his camera, propelling it into action, obsessively capturing the images before him. His gestures are explicitly masturbatory—the Camera is manically tugged upon (dziga, dziga, dziga…) as the operator hunches over his tool of capture, power, and domination. When a lady passenger mimics the crude crank-gesturing back at the Cameraman, is he embarrassed or intimidated? No, for he is in control! It is clear that Vertov’s technique is beyond mere voyeurism. There is nothing covert about his Cameraman’s imposition on his subjects. His camera has empowered him to subjugate them in a way. Vertov presents a series of images as still frames immediately following the precarious carriage sequence—these images of carriage passengers are held for several seconds each (including one frightfully unattractive portrait of the indignant gesturing woman), exemplifying the filmmaker’s power. Having tagged and dominated these subjects with his Kino-tool, their images have become his captives. It is now the filmmaker’s privilege to exhibit them as he fancies!
