Abstraction and Cinematic Modernism

Cinematic modernism, as defined by a certain purposeful ambiguity and a rather high level of abstraction, has become a prominent feature of many films made in the past several decades. Rather than making meaning less apparent in films through the lack of concrete and certain interpretations of different cinematic elements, plots, etc., this cinematic modernism actually serves to enhance meaning in these films by increasing the personal responsibility of each viewer in the interpretation of the film. Meaning is guided rather than dictated, and becomes more individually profound because of this feature.

In Lars von Trier's the Kingdom, the method of storytelling is often disjointed and surreal, calling into question exactly which events that are portrayed are real, and which are more heavily colored or even created by the perspectives and perceptions of the characters within the film itself. The possibility that what the viewers of this film are seeing is mediated by other characters within the film itself is a definite element of cinematic modernism and abstraction, calling the overall meaning and even reality of the presentation into question. This allows the viewer to participate in the creation of the story to some degree, and the number of things simply left unexplained in many of the various character backgrounds and plot points throughout the Kingdom add quite heavily to this element of the film, placing it decidedly within the realm of cinematic modernism and abstraction.

Though a very different film made almost two decades earlier, Ramesh Sippy's Sholay also has many modernist elements. Though the plot and the characters are more fully and explicitly revealed in this film than in the Kingdom, there is not always a great deal of clarity as to who is "good" and who is "bad," or what these terms really mean in the first place. The ultimate heroes of the film all have certain less-than-desirable...

This can lead to a certain feeling of disappointment on the part of the viewer, perhaps, but it also creates a deeper engagement with the film as the vicissitudes of human existence are more fully realized and more deeply appreciated through such disappointment.
The Wind Will Carry Us also contains a great deal of cinematic modernism and abstract representation and meaning, especially in the many different characters and events that are not shown in the film. Though one of three "engineers' to arrive in the rural Iranian village to witness the ritual surrounding an elderly woman's death, the main character of the film is the only one of these engineers to ever be seen. The either two definitely exist as characters, but they are never shown on camera, just as it is never fully and explicitly revealed what their exact purpose in the village is. It is up to each individual viewer to determine, at least in part, exactly what purpose these three men have for witnessing the ritual that brought them to this village. This purpose, and the characters of the observers themselves, would seem to be essential to developing a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the film, but this is something that the viewers must come to for themselves, with the cinematic modernism and abstraction utilized in the telling of this story contributing not only to uncertainty, but also to possibility.

Abstraction and cinematic modernism are capable of creating far more complex worlds, with very different and shifting interactions between reality and perception, than are more traditional cinematic narratives. These three films all exemplify the way in which such cinematic modernism serves to engage the viewer more deeply in their appreciation of film and their construction of meaning within film. Such modernism, in other words, makes each viewer a filmmaker as well.