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What is the reason for the muddy shots at the beginning?

posted 12 years ago by rfmovie
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I expected the whole movie to look like that, then it cleared up. All I can guess is that the film stock was pushed beyond its limits in the harsh Algerian sun. Bodies and faces were in shadow, that is fine, it plays into the mood and intent of the movie, but the stock itself seemed muddy and grainy as well, as if it was something out of the control of the director.

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[–] asktheages 12 years ago

I think the movie is very deliberately stylized, with at least 3 different visual aesthetics to complement certain sequences: the naturalistic, underexposed African scenes; the gritty documentary footage shot by Locke; the more colorful, almost picturesque quality to Locke's travels as a "new" man. The opening African sequence you mention falls in the middle, aesthetically: not at all as "cinéma vérité" as the bits of documentary footage, but rougher and not as immersive and fantastical as the scenes in Barcelona, for instance.

Nonetheless, I've always thought those first minutes to be as beautifully and thoughtfully filmed as anything by Antonioni. The colors of the desert -- particularly the rich blue sky -- really "pop" as they say.