Leviathan

A fishing vessel works in the Atlantic. The net goes out, comes in, the fish are dumped on deck, sorted and cut. The cycle goes on day and night. The film records that work. There is no narrative, no talk, no explanation, and nobody's name is given. Cameras are attached everywhere: to the mast, the net, a fisherman's helmet, the water. In some passages the image is underwater, in others upside down, and what is being seen is not clear. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel direct. The documentary dates from 2012. It comes from a research laboratory at a university; that group makes documentaries joining anthropology and cinema. Many small rugged cameras were used and attached both to the equipment and to the fishermen. The sound design matters as much as the image; machinery, water and metal keep piling over each other. What the narrative builds is not information but experience; the documentary explains no industry and gives no statistics. The conditions of the work come out of the image: no sleep, no break, and the job is dangerous. Its limit is accessibility; the narrative expects the viewer to make sense of it entirely alone. Who it is for: viewers who like experimental documentary and sensory cinema. Who it is not for: no information is given, the image is unsteady, and the film is physically hard to watch.