Roman Karmen
Encyclopedia
Roman Lazarevich Karmen (16 November 1906 Odessa
– 28 April 1978 Moscow
) was a Soviet
war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film
making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl
, though the comparison is by no means absolute.
, and roamed the world portraying the Spanish Civil War
, the battles for Moscow
and Leningrad
in World War II
, the First Indochina War
, and the rise of Communism in South East Asia in the 50's and in South America during the 60's.
Karmen was also granted personal access to the emergence of Communist leaders China
's Mao Tse-Tung
, Vietnam
's Ho Chi Minh
, Cuba
's Fidel Castro
and Chile
's Salvador Allende
.
by restaging key battles, including the liberation of Leningrad
(Ленинград в борьбе, 1942) and the siege of Dien Bien Phu (Вьетнам, 1955), and reconstructing the 1956 landing in Cuba
of revolutionaries
led by Fidel Castro
as a first person documentary.
In 2001, French documentary directors Dominique Chapuis and Patrick Barbéris produced a 90mn investigation about Karmen, titled Roman Karmen, A Cineast In The Revolution's Service. The following year Barbéris (his co-author Chapuis passed by in late 2001) published a critical portrait Roman Karmen, A Red Legend.
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
– 28 April 1978 Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, though the comparison is by no means absolute.
Communist propaganda
Karmen was a true believer in CommunismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and roamed the world portraying the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, the battles for Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
, and the rise of Communism in South East Asia in the 50's and in South America during the 60's.
Karmen was also granted personal access to the emergence of Communist leaders China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's Mao Tse-Tung
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
's Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
's Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
's Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
.
Controversy
Karmen's documentary methods were both influential and controversial, his renowned technical ability captured the emotion of war and the repetition of key shots and framings between film projects became a hallmark, but he would often blur the lines of Cinéma véritéCinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
by restaging key battles, including the liberation of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
(Ленинград в борьбе, 1942) and the siege of Dien Bien Phu (Вьетнам, 1955), and reconstructing the 1956 landing in Cuba
Granma (yacht)
Granma is the yacht that was used to transport 82 fighters of the Cuban Revolution from Mexico to Cuba in 1956 for the purpose of overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The 60-foot diesel-powered cabin cruiser was built in 1943 and designed to accommodate 12 people...
of revolutionaries
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
led by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
as a first person documentary.
In 2001, French documentary directors Dominique Chapuis and Patrick Barbéris produced a 90mn investigation about Karmen, titled Roman Karmen, A Cineast In The Revolution's Service. The following year Barbéris (his co-author Chapuis passed by in late 2001) published a critical portrait Roman Karmen, A Red Legend.
Filmography
- 1939: Испания (Spain), about the Spanish civil warSpanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
- 1942: Ленинград в борьбе (Leningrad in the fight), about the Siege of LeningradSiege of LeningradThe Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
- 1942: Разгром немецких войск под Москвой (Crushing defeat of German troops in the environs of MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
), about the Battle of MoscowBattle of MoscowThe Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of... - 1945: Берлин (Berlin), about the Battle of BerlinBattle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
- 1946: Суд народов (Judgment of the peoples), about the Nuremberg trial. An English languageEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version of the film called The Nuremberg TrialsNuremberg Trials (film)The Nuremberg Trials was a Soviet-made documentary film about the trials of the Nazi leadership. It was produced by Roman Karmen, and was an English-language version of the Russian language film Суд народов ....
was also made. - 1953: Повесть о нефтяниках Каспия (Narrative about the oil-industry workers of the Caspian region)
- 1955: Вьетнам (Vietnam), about the Siege of Dien Bien Phu
- 1956: Утро Индии (IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Morning) - 1958: Широка страна моя… (Wide is my country…), first Soviet widescreenWidescreenWidescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
motion picture - 1959: Покорители моря (Conquerors of the sea)
- 1961: Пылающий остров (Blazing island), about the Bay of Pigs InvasionBay of Pigs InvasionThe Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
- 1965: Великая отечественная (Great Patriotic War), 20th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War
- 1968: Гренада, Гренада, Гренада моя… (Grenada, Grenada, my Grenada…), co-directed with Konstantin SimonovKonstantin SimonovKonstantin Mikhailovich Simonov was a Russian/Soviet author, known especially as a war poet.-Early years:He was born in Petrograd. His mother was born Princess Obolenskaya, of a Rurikid family. His father, an officer in the Tsar's army, left Russia after the Revolution in 1917. He died in Poland...
, about the GrenadaGrenadaGrenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
n war of independence - 1969: Товарищ Берлин (Berlin Kamarad)
- 1972: Пылающий континент (Blazing continent)
See also
- Konstantin SimonovKonstantin SimonovKonstantin Mikhailovich Simonov was a Russian/Soviet author, known especially as a war poet.-Early years:He was born in Petrograd. His mother was born Princess Obolenskaya, of a Rurikid family. His father, an officer in the Tsar's army, left Russia after the Revolution in 1917. He died in Poland...
- Leni RiefenstahlLeni RiefenstahlHelene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
- Frank CapraFrank CapraFrank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
- Pierre SchoendoerfferPierre SchoendoerfferPierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:...
- Flags of Our Fathers (film)Flags of Our Fathers (film)is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis. It is based on the book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were involved...
External links
Two pictures of Roman Karmen in Trung Gia conference, Vietnam, July 4th 1954 (French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD) Sous l’œil d’un cinéaste soviétique by Cindy Cao Extended filmography- (Russian) Full filmography