An obscure masterpiece with extraordinary camera work, the film is an international co-production between the Soviet Union and Cuba. Discarded as a pure propoganda after its release in 1964, it was later championed by Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, to be remastered after thirty years. This film could be watched and enjoyed with the sound off. The two clips included in this section show amazing camera movements that are impossible.
From Wikipedia:
“The film is shot in black and white, sometimes using infrared film obtained from the Soviet military[2] to exaggerate contrast (making trees and sugar cane almost white, and skies very dark but still obviously sunny). Most shots are in extreme wide-angle and the camera passes very close to its subjects, whilst still largely avoiding having those subjects ever look directly at the camera.”
This first example comes early in the movie.
(from Wikipedia) “The director was given considerable freedom to complete the work, and was given much help from both the Soviet and Cuban governments. The film made use of many innovative techniques, such as coating a watertight camera’s lens with a special submarine periscope cleaner, so the camera could be submerged and lifted out of the water without any drops on the lens or film.”