Expressive movement unit 2

In this unit, there is a turn or a shift from the suffering body of an individual to the paralyzing discovery of the potential suffering of the group, which at the same time is a resolution of individual suffering through the group. This formal shift from expansion to standstill is highlighted by musical dramatization interwoven with voices as well as by the shot composition.

It begins with a movement, tied to a figure, towards an individual, the meaning of which is kept dangling and presaged by the intimation of the motif of mourning played later and the vibrating idling of the engine. This movement is immediately taken up by the fade (shaping the similarity of forms) from the small (water bottle) to the large (well) and underscored by a somber fanfare which transfers the small and large from the individual to the group. On the level of shot composition, the zoom out from the hole to the group around it creates, through the effect of standstill in this tableau, an iconographic analogy to a gathering of soldiers around the corpse or grave of a fallen comrade—underlined by the bowed heads and lowered gazes as well as the cry “Bone dry!”

The unobtrusive, sad, dramatic music that is interwoven with the dialogue in the following shots stretches the shot. Shaped by this music in interplay with the weight of the shot composition and the downward tendency of the lowered gazes, a moment of despair is portrayed. This moment is resolved as the dialogue moves from gallows humor to pragmatism and the soldiers successively lift their heads.