Review of Salt for Svanetia (1930) by Eric R — 16 Apr 2012

Salt for Svanetia is an early documentary from Mikhail Kalatozov about the post-Revolutionary expanses of the USSR, giving a detailed portrait of Ushkul, a small village in Georgia during . The film chronicles the lives of these villagers and their way of life which often is full of hardship, as they try to live off the resources which the land around them provides.

The film isn't quite the visual feast of images and techniques which Kalatozov's later films would create, but it's full of some arresting imagery and features many sequences which I will not soon forget.

The editing really stood out for me-- the kinetic style and the way some of the sequences are constructed is really quite groundbreaking. While the subject matter is somber, the film is surprisingly comedic and playful, mostly through the title cards, which really do break up the more somber parts like the gaze of winter's decent on the town.

It's a film that gives us blunt, honest depictions of birth, death, work in a way that's both harrowing, yet inspirational. In a way, as corny as it sounds, this film is about the cycle of life and man's strength to endure through the hardships as they present themselves-given this is kinda a Propaganda film, that makes sense.