Documentary film

The word ‘documentary’ was derived from the French word ‘documentaire’ which means the documentation of any subject in the world. The name of the documentary film was especially given originally by British writer and film director John Grierson in the year 1925 only after watching the second film of Robert Flaherty, ‘Moana’.
In fact the documentary film should totally be based on the actual realities of the subject matter. This type of film should have no elements of imagination and dramatization as in the fiction films.
Writer and director John Ford has opined that a documentary film is the presentation of realities in a creative manner.
In the world history of cinema the first ever documentary film was made (written, edited and directed) by an American film director Robert Flaherty. The first documentary film was named “Nanook of the North” which was first released in Los Angeles in the year 1922 AD.
Nanook was the head of an Eskimo family who lived in the snow-capped mountains of the Hudson Bay of north east Canada. In the year 1919, Robert Flaherty had gone to that location with his wife to spend their holidays. The place had no house, no cultivation, no hotel neither any other facilities. But he found Nanook and his family struggling to live in the very cold and snowy place. Nanook had a very poor condition. He used to prey on walruses, a mammal. He had 4-5 children along with his wife and they kept 7-8 dogs with them. He had a spear and a chopper as his equipment for preying Walruses. The family had a sledge which was pulled by those dogs travelling from one place to another. Nanook used to construct an Igloo with the pieces of snow.
In the year 1919 AD, Flaherty picturized a few scenes of Nanook. Since the equipment were of primitive stage and the camera could be loaded with a very short length of negatives, he took it to Hollywood and whatever he had picturized, edited and kept safely in the years 1920,1921 and 1922 he went to the Hudson Bay again and again to finish the shooting. The footage of the documentary was edited by him and released in USA which was later distributed all over the world. As we know all the shooting equipment was of primitive stage, yet the quality of the film looks no less than a film shot in present time. Till the time of release of ‘Nanook of the north’, almost all films used to be picturized inside artificially constructed studios with tantalizing and twinkling lights and with highly decorated sets. The war films, mythological, social stories, religious and historical films were all picturized inside the studios not only in Hollywood, but also in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, etc.
Therefore, the release of ‘Nanook of the North’ made a great effect historically, being the first film to be shot outside the studios, in outdoor locations. ‘Nanook of the North’ in fact, showed a new path to the filmmakers of the world to shoot films outside, which can present more realities of life.
When Flaherty was shooting and editing the film, he did not know his film was made in the genre of documentary films. It was the British writer and director John Grierson who named such a kind of reality based film ‘A documentary Film’, but only after watching Flaherty’s second film ‘Moana’ in the year 1925. After that the making of such documentary films speedily grew in the world.
If cinema is the most powerful, effective and useful media of mass communication, the stream of documentary is definitely the best way of such powerful, effective and useful medium to the people (audience), society and the nation. We can picturize each and every aspect of the society in a documentary film in a real sense. To realize the mental conscious, to educate the people and society giving all kinds of information, the hazards of superstitions, the unequal feeling of class and untouchability, to show the real level of our mental standards and to uplift the thinking of people is very much easy by showing these things in a documentary film.

Not only that, to the five the information of the works of development and construction works, to teach the people regarding the scientific ways of agriculture, health, sanitation or the feeling of nation building is possible making documentary films. It is also useful for preserving our cultural, religious, historical and architectural aspects. We can promote the tourism values by making the documentary films. We have natural prides like higher and higher snow-capped mountains, flora and fauna, hills, arable Terai, beautiful hills, green forests where varieties of birds and animals living inside- we can picturize the properties not only to show and inform our countrymen but to the outer world also in a documentary film. The developments of the industries, education, communication and transport system as well.
In fact, we can make documentary films in almost all subjects existing in the world. It could be made in a very tiny thing to a very huge subject also. Most of the documentary film makers of the world take the following subject to make their documentary films -
• Industries
• Profession
• Tourism
• Scientific developments
• Education
• Sports
• Health
• Agriculture
• Biographical
• War and peace
• Political system
• Art and culture
• Commerce and trade
• Construction and development works
• Nature, wild life
• Important events, incidents, accidents, natural calamities, festive occasions, etc.

Some example of classic documentary films of yester year
• Nanook of the North (1992) - Robert Flaherty, U.S.A.
• Moana (1925)- Robert Flaherty, 1925
• Berlin: Symphony Of A City, 1929- Walter Ruttman, Germany
• The Drifters (1929) – John Grierson, U.K.
• Turksido(1928) – Victor Turim, Russia
• The Earth(1929)- Alexander Dovzenko, Russia
• The General Lime(1929)- Sergei Mikhailovitch Eisentein, Russia
• The People Of Niece(1929) – Jean Vigo, Italy
• Louisiana Story(1946-1948)- Robert Flaherty,U.S.A
• The Glass(1958) – Bert Haanstra, Netherlands(Holland)
• Night And Fog(1955) – Allen Resnais, France
• Hearts And Minds (1974) – Peter Daris, USA
• The Hour Of Furnaces (1968) - Fernando Solanes And Octario Gelino( Argentina)
(Duration: 4 Hours 20 Mins, 11 International Awards Winner)