Le Sel de Svanétie

As a student of Russian history, it is hard for me to see 'Salt of Svanetia' as anything but a propaganda film. However, even as a propaganda film, there are incredible things that happen with this film. Kalatazov is a master of imagery. The scenes that overlook Svanetia are breathtaking, but equally interesting are the scenes that focus on the work of the villagers--especially when he focuses on the actual workers. The inter-titles give the film a storyline--this creates a new sort of life to the documentary. The storyline makes the film bearable for even one who is not a film specialist. Kalatazov has done an amazing job of making even propaganda pretty.

So what if it's pure Soviet propaganda...Salt of Svanetia is an amazing looking piece of work that chronicles the hardness of life in the post-Revolutionary expanses of the USSR. There are images in this film you will never see anywhere else...of birth, of work, and of death...all presented bluntly, yet with exquisite artistry .

Extraordinary documentary filmed in the late twenties of the last century in a remote region of the former Soviet Union, anticipates Buñuel´s Las hurdes in showing the poverty and hard lives of people with a mastery work of cinematography and edition. Mijail Kalatozov exhibits here very early why he could do I am Cuba more than thirty years later. Virtually unknown by young movie critics, it´s undoubtly a must for all movie critics fans.

Many visually stunning scenes--it's the superior of Turksib, which is on the same video release. Incidentally, Svanetia is not part of the Ukraine, but is in the northwest of the Georgian Republic, in the Caucasus, not the Carpathian, mountains. This area is still very remote. The Svan language is distantly related to Georgian; there are only a few thousand speakers left.

Deep in the Caucasian mountains is the region of Svanetia; cut off from civilization by mountains and glaciers. They have snow 8 months out of the year on their mountain pass and thus the Ushkul tribe has remained isolated for centuries, maintaining almost intact their customs and traditions.

"Jim Shvante" ( Salt For Svanetia ) (1930) was directed by Herr Mikhail Kalatozov and certainly is a brilliant, astonishing Soviet film masterpiece that must be watched by any worthy silent film fan.

The film is a semi-documentary about the Ushkul tribe, and their harsh conditions of life in their isolated region. Naturally the communists come to the rescue and provide a brilliant economic plan that brings the region into the twentieth century but of course their way of living and religion must go in the name of progress. It seems that Georgian film directors like Herr Kalatozov (who began his career as a cameraman), had a special fondness for documentaries, giving this film format an excellent opportunity to depict the special idiosyncrasies of the Georgian country.

"Jim Shvante" makes brilliant use of the camera and has man inventive technical tricks. Of course this is all in the service of propaganda but is aesthetically exciting Every shot in the picture is full of epic atmosphere and of course we have the contrast of Soviet progress and modernity (lots of close-ups of machinery and collective human efforts) with the underdevelopment of the Svans who are being held back by their religion and customs. The film is an inventive mixture of symbolism, ethnography and propaganda.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must continue his aristocratic isolation from the modern world.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/