The Cameraman
There is only one “character” in the film. Other people are show, such as a woman getting dressed and going to get her haircut, people exercising, an old woman, young boys and various other assorted people in the city, but the come and go and serve primarily as the backdrop for following the main character: the man with a the movie camera. Played by the actual cameraman and the director’s brother, this is truly a character within what otherwise is essentially an early example of cinema-verite. What is particularly distinguishable about the cameraman as a character as he makes his way throughout a Russian metropolis teeming with life is that he is truly situated as a man with a movie camera. The camera that accompanies him everywhere is the old-fashioned type associated with the silent period from even modern motion pictures: the camera mounted on a tripod which can be flung over the cinematographer’s should and carried from site to site. In effect, the camera becomes a kind of secondary character. Between the camera and its operator, this almost serves as a buddy movie. Where the cameraman is, so will be found his camera. Inseparable and as inextricably connected as the viewer and the film being viewed on the screen.
