Leviathan

Leviathan is an enthralling cinematic exploration of commercial fishing off the coast of Massachusetts, a film which is a far cry from your typical documentary approach. Released in 2012, it is directed by the creative duo of Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, from Harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab. The film showcases their revolutionary and experimental filmmaking techniques that merge anthropological research with visual and audio artistry. It features fishermen Brian Jannelle, Adrian Guillette, and Arthur Smith, who are not exactly cast in traditional roles but rather, simply living their lives as commercial fishermen.

The film Leviathan breaks all the norms of conventional storytelling, emphasizing images and sounds over linear narratives and dialogues. There are no interviews, no score, and no scripted scenes, thus presenting a raw and unfiltered look into the life and work of fishermen at sea. The creators have used innovative camera techniques and sound designs to immerse the audience entirely in the elemental world of fisheries. The cameras are placed in unusual positions, capturing unique views from the fisherman's perspective.

Leviathan takes place aboard a commercial fishing vessel, as it sails into the murky depths off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts, historically known as the world's top whaling port and famous as the backdrop for Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby Dick. This setting gives a symbolic nod to industries and traditions of the past, while highlighting the modern reality of commercial fishing - a reality that's far less romantic but equally as perilous.

The title "Leviathan" is apt, referring to a sea monster from the Bible, often associated with the devil in Christian tradition, adding a mythical layer to this reflection on commercial fishing. Audiences are invited to observe the turmoil and danger faced by the fishermen, the grim realities of the job, and the powerful fluctuations of nature itself.

The film offers a brutal and unromantic portrayal of the commercial fishing industry. It captures the battleground between human will and nature's caprice, where roughened men against an incessant sea, catch and slaughter their prey in an elemental dance as old as time. Blood, scales, and seawater mingle in shocking, almost abstract visuals. It portrays a de-glamorized and de-romanticized reality, with no heroic narrative or triumphant victories, but an alternation of monotony and chaos, endurance, and survival.

Furthermore, Leviathan illustrates the stark life-and-death struggle below the ship's deck, where fish and sea creatures meet their grim ends, offering an unfiltered perspective into the unsustainability and the ethical debates around commercial fishing and seafood consumption. This vision may discomfort some and fascinate others, leaving audiences to ponder our relationship with the mysteries of the deep and the implications of our insatiable appetite for its resources.

The cinematography of Leviathan is stunning and innovative. The variety of camera positions used, from the fisherman's headgear to dipping below the water's surface, presents an chaotic, visceral, and often disorienting experience that expresses the relentless movement of life at sea. Coupled with an equally powerful sound design, the audience is plunged into the cacophonous world of machinery, human toil, and the unyielding turmoil of the sea, building a symphony of sound and visuals that's alienating and fascinating in equal measure.

Beyond showing us the dynamics of the fishing industry, Leviathan offers a meditation on humanity's connection with nature, confronting us with our roles in the natural world as predators and conservationists while revealing the harsh realities painstakingly masked behind the sanitized seafood market. The experience of watching the film is both visceral and thought-provoking. By presenting a reality unfiltered and uninterpreted, the film allows, if not forces, audiences to reflect deeply on their own understandings and assumptions.

In conclusion, Leviathan is not just a documentary; it is an avant-garde voyage that transports audiences to a world that's absolutely foreign but shockingly real. Through its radical filmmaking approach, the film provides an immersive, experiential encounter that goes beyond traditional storytelling. Despite its brutality and rawness, or maybe because of it, Leviathan manages to be a masterful and gripping tale that leaves an indelible impression on its viewers. A film about the sea and the unseen, the people and the unforgiving, the sustenance and the sacrifice - a film that confronts, provokes, and haunts us with the reality of nature, humanity, and the price of survival.