Broadcast in 2011 in the UK, The Story of Film was directed and narrated by Northern Irish film critic, Mark Cousins. It opens with the D-Day invasion from Saving Private Ryan. As bullets whiz underwater and soldiers stumble onto the beach, Cousins' incongruously calm voice explains how this scene was shot on a peaceful beach in Ireland. How Steven Spielberg is using a lie to tell the truth. And with that, we are launched into the epic tale of The Story of Film. Beginning at the beginning, in 1895 when film techniques were being developed by Edison and the Lumiere brothers, Cousins embarks on a thorough examination of the evolution of cinema, picking it apart decade by decade. Seemingly simple things, like how to edit and cut a scene together are methodically explained, and we learn how filmmakers took a while to understand how to express story and action through this new medium of film. These minutiae are fascinating and will teach you to never take a single scene in a movie for granted.
Many explorations of film have a strictly Western slant. But Cousins rejects the notion that cinema is the purview of Hollywood and Europeans. Throughout The Story of Film, he discusses master filmmakers in Asia, Africa, and South America, pioneers who are often forgotten but produced some of the innovations that influenced prominent Western filmmakers. We see how the staging and cinematography of early Japanese cinema is replicated in the famous film noirs of the 1930s. Shot-by-shot comparisons reveal the ongoing legacy of film: a scene of a man staring at bubbles is repeated in movies that span continents and decades. This is a documentary that picks apart cinema and then puts it back together again to create one glorious tapestry of interconnected threads.
Aside from learning more than you could ever hope to learn about cinema, The Story of Film also serves as a world history lesson. Cinema does not exist in a vacuum; it is a product of its time, and Cousins discusses the influence of real-world events and their impact on movie-makers and audiences. World wars, cultural revolutions, the collapse of colonialism and the rise of Communism all form an integral part of this story, and it is astonishing how it can make the world feel both vast and small at the same time. Putting melodramatic Bollywood cinema in the context of Partition and the social upheaval of India in the 1950s was revelatory to me. Depending on your cultural background, you will find similarly astonishing points to ponder and analyze.
Each episode of The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an eye-opening delight, a reminder that movies are not a meaningless artistic pursuit but are deliberately crafted works that contain unimaginable depths of history, influence, and beauty. When I watch a movie now, I will be on the lookout for familiar shots, subtle imagery, social commentary, and anything else that can connect it to this vast legacy of movies that have preceded it. You cannot watch every movie that was ever made, but The Story of Film will certainly teach you how to appreciate the ones you do watch.
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