La Pyramide Humaine

1961 feature that adopts a collaborative approach under the guidance of Jean Rouch.
This again offers the feature of being viewed, commented upon, and thus with the feature of critical reflection once the film has concluded. As with various of Rouch’s work, the sound is though direct; we thus have the abrupt change from shot to shot. And there are quite a few of these; tight framings are preferred, even in confined spaces units of people strike each other in, if not shot-reverse, at least shot-sideshot.
The story is quite a straightforward one of assimilation, racial tensions, and how these interact, seem to overcome each other, come up again, and all the elements thrown into that. It is a calm, rational project, except for the ending, which is oddly nihilistic and not really of a piece with the general humanist tone. Still, the communicative function of the collaborative nature shines through in Rouch’s critical technique of post-film analysis, and we have another deeply intelligent work.