Group body in the submarine*

Classification in categories

• Transition between two social systems
• Formation of a group body (corps)
• Homeland, woman, home

Metadata

In the formal interplay of camera and editing, this scene superimposes the image of concentrated readiness for battle with the ambivalent echo of death; finally resolved in the family-like structure of the military community. 

In the film’s dramaturgical structure, this scene is between the soldiers’ arrival in the confinement of the submarine (> „Confinement in the submarine“) and the initiation into the collective desire to fight (> "Briefing in the submarine").

The interaction of camera movement and framing is staged in the beginning to allow us to experience the soldiers’ cramped bodies in the submarine. Within this constricted visual space a deadly one-on-one fight is simulated that brings the threat of the semantic content of the speech and the lively, rhythmic gestures into an ambivalent relationship (> EMU 1). The cut that follows—the moment of surprise in civilian birthday rituals—creates, through reduced depth of focus and a slower frequency of cuts, the static image of a family-like community (> EMU 2).

The units into which this scene is divided are clearly related through mutual mirroring: After an introduction that acts as a prologue—a view of the submarine—both halves of the scene experience an eruptive turn through actions that fall into the frame from off-camera (first the simulated enemy attack and second the tumultuous congratulating of the birthday boy). Both parts of the scene end with a socially relaxed representation of the military.    FS

Expressive movement units

Materials about the scene

Position of scene in film