berlin: symphony of a great city (1927)

the city as assemblage

Berlin wonderfully demonstrates the way in which film can be used to represent assemblages.  Observational footage is edited together in such a way to evoke the socio-material assemblage that is 1927 Berlin. The film jumps between aspects of Berlin life through the use of montage, creating interesting relations between different aspects of the city. The intercutting between humans and machines, for example, makes it hard to miss the rather robotic qualities of the city’s population, forever repeating their daily rituals as they walk to work. Rhythmic editing is used effectively to convey the different temporalities of the city: the peace and quiet of the early morning is slow and calm, where as the fury of business hours is handled with pace.