On Documentary and Leviathan

It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Only this time it’s true. Leviathan is an almost wholly pure documentary from ethnographic filmmakers Lucien Castiang-Taylor and Verena Paravel. Through the use of small, easily attachable digital cameras Castaing-Taylor and Paravel have created an immersive experience of a deep sea Atlantic fishing ship, the name of which we never know and the crew of which we barely meet. In many ways Leviathan is pure documentary. There is no non-diegetic music and neither Castaing-Taylor not Paravel are ever heard or seen. Many of the shots are abstract at first as they deny us any form of narrative framing, instead forcing us to work to interpret the images, whether they be an extreme close up of a fish eye or a flock of seagulls seen from under the water. The advantage of their cameras is that they allow the access into the most intimate of spaces.

Of course no documentary can be entirely pure. The images are still selected by the directors (although this is always the case) and end credits reveal this unnamed vessel set sail from the same port that the fictional Pequod from Moby Dick set sail, immediately creating intertextuality. A later scene also shows one of the unnamed crew members slowly falling asleep while watching a reality TV show about deep sea fishermen, creating a sense of comedy. Yet Leviathan remains a fascinating watch and some of the most startling imagery seen in documentary cinema.