Berlin Horse

Berlin Horse caught my eye and kept my attention for many reasons. As separate as it felt from most of the other films we've seen so far, it called upon some earlier pieces in a striking way. There was a serious parallel between the second part of Berlin Horse and the early Lumiere Brothers film Workers Leaving the Factory. I felt a similar sort of relief and calmness (even though the building is on fire...) as the horses were being through the door to what I felt when we watched that film way back when. The simplicity and the variations on a theme called to mind our initial discussion of "looking" vs. "seeing." I felt as though I saw Berlin Horse. I've always thought that horses are particularly fascinating animals. They are so strong and muscular but at the same time are really graceful and beautiful--that rich contrast really propelled the footage that Le Grice used. It was also sad, the way the horse was tied to a rope, running around and around reiterating the same circle over and over again, and yet, especially in the second part, it seemed like the horses were invincible in their strength and beauty. It was dizzying, but in a way I was able to deal with (unlike many of Brakhage's whirlwind sequences of nature). Whereas filmmakers like Warhol were exploring the temporal axis of film, it seems like Le Grice is much more interested in the spatial axis--in realizing the full potential of this found footage within each frame. Le Grice utilizes many stark editing techniques including the use of negative exposure of film, reversing the film to make the horse move backwards, double exposure, speeding-up and vibrant color filters that called to mind the horses in the city of Oz. Often, all these techniques and others I can't name or am not aware of are combined in a single sequence. Le Grice's overwhelming editing and creation of simplistic but beautifully rich abstraction made this film rewarding for me.