Properly titled Nails is a film about the making nails. However it does show us 3 different ways of making them. The film opens with a metal forger working in his small shack making one nail at a time, this process taking about 3 or 4 minutes. After pounding the head on the nail he adds it to the pile of nails he has made all day, counting about a dozen. We then see a medium sized factory, with more men working in it. In here the machines seem man made. The shapes of the internal parts are rounded, almost human like. The third method of production is accompanied by a bombastic soundtrack, and the film for some reason spends more time on this method of nail production, perhaps being because it is the most complex. We see large spools of metal wiring being loaded into machines. The endless rows of machines are making nails at a countless rate. We do not see many workers in this factory, it seems like the machines are controlling themselves. Could the three different factories be a symbol for communism, socialism and capitalism? Maybe, it is up to the viewer to decide, the director does not seem to pass judgment on any of the 3 ways show to on making nails. The music accompanying each method is suited to level of chaos in the scene, I don’t believe its Borsos’ way of telling us which way is good or bad. One can see it as how industry is removing the human element to production, or how the art of metal forging is now lost. Our first man making nails can be called an artist, as each nail he makes is unique. The second factory worker can be called a tradesman. His skills are needed in the production of the nails. He must assist the machine in the forging process. He must feed the machine the metal so that it can be shaped into a nail. The third worker can be seen as a production laborer. No skill in the art of nail making is required by him, he only needs to know how to drive a forklift or press a button to turn the machine off and on. To me this artful documentary is objective and unbiased to any of the three methods of production; it is up to the viewer to come up with their own conclusions
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Nails
Properly titled Nails is a film about the making nails. However it does show us 3 different ways of making them. The film opens with a metal forger working in his small shack making one nail at a time, this process taking about 3 or 4 minutes. After pounding the head on the nail he adds it to the pile of nails he has made all day, counting about a dozen. We then see a medium sized factory, with more men working in it. In here the machines seem man made. The shapes of the internal parts are rounded, almost human like. The third method of production is accompanied by a bombastic soundtrack, and the film for some reason spends more time on this method of nail production, perhaps being because it is the most complex. We see large spools of metal wiring being loaded into machines. The endless rows of machines are making nails at a countless rate. We do not see many workers in this factory, it seems like the machines are controlling themselves. Could the three different factories be a symbol for communism, socialism and capitalism? Maybe, it is up to the viewer to decide, the director does not seem to pass judgment on any of the 3 ways show to on making nails. The music accompanying each method is suited to level of chaos in the scene, I don’t believe its Borsos’ way of telling us which way is good or bad. One can see it as how industry is removing the human element to production, or how the art of metal forging is now lost. Our first man making nails can be called an artist, as each nail he makes is unique. The second factory worker can be called a tradesman. His skills are needed in the production of the nails. He must assist the machine in the forging process. He must feed the machine the metal so that it can be shaped into a nail. The third worker can be seen as a production laborer. No skill in the art of nail making is required by him, he only needs to know how to drive a forklift or press a button to turn the machine off and on. To me this artful documentary is objective and unbiased to any of the three methods of production; it is up to the viewer to come up with their own conclusions
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