Editing technique · used in 5 films
Holding the camera on violence for much longer than is comfortable, with no cut to let you look away. Most films only show a quick glimpse.
Examples
Elem Klimov · 1985
Klimov doesn't let you escape through a cut. The burning of the village, the crowds herded into the barn and the aftermath are all filmed at full length. It feels like a moral duty. Klimov insists that you look at it yourself, and the discomfort is the point.
Where to see it: The village massacre sequence. Each shot runs so long that you never get the relief of moving on.
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 1988
Kieslowski holds the camera on the murder far longer than a thriller would. You watch the strangling and the attack with a stone play out until it hurts. The length strips away any thrill and leaves you with the plain weight of killing a person.
Where to see it: The taxi murder: Jacek gets into Waldemar's cab and has him drive to a remote spot. There he strangles the driver with a rope, hits him with an iron bar and finishes him with a large rock.
Tony Kaye · 1998
Kaye shows the curb-stomp plainly. A wide shot catches the stomp itself and a close-up holds on the victim's mouth above the curb. Showing it this clearly is a moral choice. You have to take in the act as a whole, without the quick cutting that films use to make violence feel normal. The scene can't be made stylish, because it is filmed to be seen.
Where to see it: The curb scene. A wide shot of the stomp and a close-up of the victim's mouth leave the violence nowhere to hide.
László Nemes · 2015
The film's first scene holds on the Sonderkommando work cycle: the bodies, the cleaning, the routine. It lasts long enough that you cannot watch it as spectacle. You can only take it as unbearable fact.
Where to see it: The opening sequence. It shows the killing cycle with no transition and no relief. The length denies you the merciful cut that would let you feel comfortable again.
RaMell Ross · 2024
The punishment scenes at Nickel Academy stay mostly in the boys' point of view. The film cuts away only to archival photographs of real boys. The boys can't look away from what is happening to them, and neither can you.
Where to see it: The White House punishment sequence. It is filmed mostly through the eyes of the boy being beaten. It goes on so long that you can't treat the violence as a spectacle.
Questions