Abel Gance's silent film titled ‘La Roue’ (1923) or also known as 'The Wheel' is a masterpiece that will take the viewers into another perspective of film where creativity and imagination plays a significant role in its entirety. This epic melodramatic film centered on three main male characters who are fighting over a woman whom they love. Sisif, a widowed man and a railway engineer, finds himself romantically attracted to his adopted daughter named Norma (an orphan girl who was rescued by Sisif from a disastrous train crash). Elie, a violin maker and son of Sisif, whom his greatest joy is the time spent with his believed biological sister Norma, making him guilty of incest. And Hersan, a wealthy colleague of Sisif who threatens him and used his confessed secrets to blackmail him (Hersan wants Sisif to give his consent to marry Norma, or else his secret will be revealed).
Aside from the story, there are a lot of elements in the film that have caught my interest. The film is a well-crafted art that allows audiences to see various scenes that are aesthetically beautiful. It is also obvious in the film that the director focuses on expressing his own meaning of art and not limiting himself to the standards and rules of filmmaking. His technique and approach in making ‘La Roue’ is very similar to most avantgarde or experimental films that I have watched, giving the film a unique and edge to other silent films. It is such a very brave and a huge step for the director to do this kind of film as this might not be appreciated by the audience since it does not conform to the usual idea of a film wherein it should be seamless and realistic. But fortunately, the outcome of it has made the film more engaging to the viewers as it makes them become more imaginative since there are scenes that used metaphorical approach instead of using the actual event that a particular scene wants to convey.
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The camerawork, lighting techniques, and fast-cut-editing of each scene is what makes the film very effective. As I have interpreted in the film, Abel Gance is more interested in the feeling of the film, wherein his rapid cutting of shots produces an active, instinctual, and involuntary response to the mere movement of phenomena. This approach has concealed or served as an alternative to some of the weak points/narratives of the film by creating emotions through pieces of rapid shots. A good example of this can be seen in the intense part of the film, which is the train crash. In order to execute the scene very well and make it believably intense, instead of showing the actual scenario of a train crash, Gance used medium close shots and rapid montage to different parts of the train and its movement that will actually be of help in intensifying the scene. Furthermore, it is obvious that the film also gave importance to their use of lighting. With that, this helps each scenario to highlight or add up to the emotions of characters and ambience of a certain place or thing. Gance's cuts are strikingly interesting because he was able to create an action through his edits rather than purposely showing the action itself with a single shot.
There are also some occasionally interesting touches in the film that I assumed to be new during that time. The circular forms or framing that is used to focus on a particular thing or a character. The overlapping edits or effects, which gives a dreamlike illusion as well as it gives an artistic touch to the film. The quotations in the intertitles that gave audiences a clue to each narrative especially if the scenario uses a metaphor. The camera shots that are believed to be the point of view of the character, which helps audiences to know in its actuality the situation of the character (a good example of this is when Sisif began to have poor eyesight condition, which in the film showed Sisif's vision rather than showing the suffering of the character). And lastly, the breaking of the fourth wall, which gives a personal connection between the audience and the characters that I also find engaging.
Given all of these good technicalities of the film, there are also things that I do not like. These are the things that I think is unnecessary in the film or the things that need improvement. One of it and I would say the most obvious technicality that a viewer will notice is that some scenes really lack continuity. Since the main objective of the film is to make it more artistic and not to conform to the usual idea of a film, most of the scenes in ‘La Roue’ looked disconnected with each other despite that the shots are really intended to be together in one scene. Second, the choices of location and studio setting that will be used in each scenario. The changing of two setting in a scenario can be easily distinguished. I can personally tell their differences, which made particular shots in a scenario look not connected with each other. Furthermore, the establishment of a particular scene, setting, and the events are also a bit contrasting to the shots being shown in the film. For instance, during a fight scene of Sisif in a bar, the setting and measured size of the bar created in viewer's mind is contrasting to the shots being shown in the film, where the place looked bigger while showing such shots. Third, it is quite bothersome to see circular framings (vignette effect) that are not smoothly executed in a scene and worse having the character not fitted in the frame. And last, is that some of the exaggerated acting or the so-called theatrical act of the actors have made confusion on the actual message that they are trying to convey. Some of the scenes that the characters need to look in love can be mistakenly interpreted as lust, which can also cause misconception in the narratives.
Taking everything into account, ‘La Roue’ is an ambitious film wherein its main focus is on the artistic side of the film. Perhaps Abel Gance wanted his film to start a new movement in cinema that focused solely on extracting the creativity and imagination of the director.
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