TMA 293-Online Response l- What is documentary film?

The distinction between what is a documentary film and what is a fiction film is not a cut black and white distinction. Bill Nichols describes documentary film as the “creative interpretation of actuality”. With this definition it is understood that documentary films are not reality but strive to represent reality in a creative manner. This creative manner and license for interpretation is what makes the distinction between documentary film and fiction film less clear. 

One possible distinction between fiction and documentary films, which was discussed in class, is that fiction films consist of actors representing reality through fictional characters while documentary films consist of people portraying themselves. However, this is not always the case. The film Iron & Silk (1990) was categorized in film festivals in the dramatic category. This film is an autobiography of Mark Salzman and his relationship and journey with his Kung Fu teacher Qingfu Pan. However, Mark Salzman and Qingfu are both played by themselves. They are recreating an actual event and portraying themselves (a reenactment); however, the film is categorized as fiction. In contrast, the film Be Kind, Rewind consists of fictional characters making a documentary film, in which they recreate a reality with actors portraying historical figures and not themselves. This, however, is categorized as a documentary film because they categorize it as such. This goes to show that what we categorize a film can give more distinction to what a film is than a film itself. In these two examples, we can observe that the distinction between fiction and documentary can be determined by what the filmmaker wishes the film to be described as. They also demonstrate that there is no set rule which distinguishes fiction from documentary, but the distinction is based more on the interpretation of the viewer and film maker. 

One common attribute of a documentary films though is the observational quality; the quality to organize “historical” footage in a manner in which one observes a situation. One film which does this very nicely is Man or Aran. The film conveys the more observational quality largely due to its attribute of being a silent film with some ADR dubbed in occasionally. This film focuses mainly on observing someone’s way of life. This is also a common attribute of many of the Lumiere films which silently observed French ways of living. This focus of a film of striving to observe life is a common attribute of documentary films. It can also be a distinction of documentary films as compared to fiction films. Fiction films seek to describe life while documentary films may seek to observe life.